


L I M I T L E S S

by kimqiwi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Romelle (Voltron), Evil Zarkon (Voltron), F/F, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Human Allura (Voltron), Human Lotor (Voltron), Human Romelle (Voltron), Human Zarkon (Voltron), Inspired by The Walking Dead, James Griffin (Voltron) Being an Asshole, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Krolia (Voltron) is a Good Parent, M/M, Mentioned James Griffin (Voltron), Mentioned Kolivan (Voltron), Mentioned Krolia (Voltron), Mentioned Matt Holt, Mentioned Zarkon (Voltron), Parental Krolia (Voltron), Past Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 48,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28449585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimqiwi/pseuds/kimqiwi
Summary: After the outbreak of a dangerous virus, billions of people wake up from the dead and turn into some undiscovered creatures that are willing to kill you. The Voltron team, formed by some hopeless teenagers, find theirselves in the middle of the apocalypse, with no one willing to help them. Follow them into the run of finding the cure for this deadly disease. Will they find it? Will they all make it out alive?started: march 2020finished: -I do NOT own the characters, they are Netflix's ”Voltron: Legendary Defender”, and some of the scenes are inspired from AMC's ”The Walking Dead”.
Relationships: Allura & Lance (Voltron), Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Lance (Voltron), Kolivan/Krolia (Voltron), Matt Holt & Romelle, Matt Holt/Veronica
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

Day 189

The saviours

Matt opened his eyes, finding himself isolated in the air by the seatbelt, breathing heavily. The car was overtuned on the right side, and all the windows on that side, plus the front one were completely smashed.

The faint light on the ceiling was flickering, and all the stuff in the car was fallen over the smashed windows.

His eyes widened as he realized that a walker was halfway into the car through the window on the right side. The walker's legs were stuck underneath the side of the car, which means they were basically cut in two.

But the brain is the main power force that keeps them alive, so unless you don't shut it down, you can't expect them to die.

Matt started panicking, seeing that the walker was crawling itself in his direction. He tried to break the window on the left side, which was basically above his head with his fist, but he obviously didn't seem to succeed.

The walker reached for his leg, hanging theirself on him. Matt knew damn well what a walker can do when they do that. Out of his half-year experience, he knew that a walker could rip your chest open with their nails in a matter of seconds.

He unbuckled his seatbelt, holding himself on the chair as he fell to his feet. More exactly, right on top of the walker. Well, the half that was left out of them.

Matt resisted the urge to vomit when he saw the walker's head smash right under his combat boots. He took a deep breath through his nose, looking around, searching for a place where he could get out of the car through.

The front window was completely smashed, but so was the front of the car, so it was basically impossible for him to get out through there. He looked up at the door above him. It was his only way out.

He reached for the door and opened it, but not succeeding to push it. He took his gun out of the shealth, looking up at the window and then kicking the window with the back of the gun, immediately covering his head with his arms.

Then he looked back up, realizing that he would cut himself trying to climb up the broken window. He looked to his feet, seeing his sister's green blanket. He took it, throwing it over the window.

He sighted, climbing over the seats and proceeding to get out the window.

Outside was raining heavily. The wet road was sparkling slightly in the light projected by the flashlights. Matt jumped off the car, losing his balance and falling on his back on the cold concrete.

He stood there for a few seconds, letting the cold rain hit his face. He mentally started counting the events in the past days. Since he left Pidge, he had been attacked by more zombies they both had to deal with since they ran away six months ago.

He kept stopping, because he couldn't concentrate on driving for the past two days, and now a walker came out of no where in front of the car, blocking his way. He lost the control of the car, flipping it over.

He had to admit, he had been closer to death than ever.

He sat up, running his hands through his wavy hair, brushing the pieces of glass out. He sighted and looked up at the cloudy sky, faintly lighten up by the moon, before taking a look at the destroyed car.

"You had to break down when I needed you the most" he muttered more to himself, hitting the wheel with his foot.

He walked to the carrier, opening it, and picking up his backpack, which was flipped over on the right side, along with the other stuff. He had a gun simillar to an AK, putting it over his shoulder by the leather attached to it. He took the ammunition left, putting it in the front pocket of his backpack.

The food had been over since a few days ago, and he didn't find any city or store on his way, so he ate the canned food left, which he could bet that not even a walker could touch due to how bad it tasted.

He slammed the carrier door shut, checking for his weapons, and then glancing over to the destroyed car for a few seconds. He had no idea where he was heading, but he needed to get away from the car, because the light wouldn't stop flickering, and he knew the walkers would get attached to it as if it was a Christmas tree.

All he hoped was that running away wasn't going to cause more damage. He still hadn't tasted the whole 'surviving' thing. Running away in a car and eventually breaking in a store and dealing with three or four walkers in a while wasn't surviving. He was at the beginning. He's left on his own for the first time since the apocalypse started, and three days later his car crashes because of a walker, and he is left in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, alone.

For the first time in those six months, he really felt lost.

***

Matt took his gun out of its shealth, holding it defensively while walking further inside the city. It was unusually quiet, and he knew it wasn't good.

The atmosphere was cloudy, and it couldn't help but give him a creepy vibe.

He had spent the previous night walking towards the city. He knew that by doing this he was basically killing himself, but it was the only place where he could maybe claim a store or something else and get some rest.

He had wanted to make a complete plan with a new route to follow, that could keep him going for at least a month. He knew it was going to be lights our as soon as he was going to lay down, probably not having any time to do any plan. After two days without any sleep, he would have lied to himself saying that he was going to resist planning the next whole month.

Though, he was surprised by how quiet the city was. It would usually be full of walkers at that time. But now, he was walking in the middle of the street, with his gun down, realizing that something might have taken them down before he got there.

He glanced over to the stores on the bottom floor of the buildings. All the windows were either smashed or full of blood. Once in a while you could see some dead body laying on the sidewalk.

But there was only one word you could describe the city at that time with: bloody.

The blood was the only thing that you were able to see more often than walkers. The blood was everywhere. It was either disguistingly getting out the walkers's mouths, or splashed across the windows, or in puddles in the middle of the street.

The point was, you needed to keep yourself as far away as you could from the blood that wasn't yours. It would be prefferable though to keep your own blood inside your body too, at least for your safety.

Matt walked around the corner, abruptly stopping. There they were.

His eyes widened, as he quickly tried to go back around the corner, before any of those creatures would get to see him.

To his horror, there was a huge crowd of walkers around what seemed like a dead horse.

Matt ran to the side of the street, hiding around the corner. Bad luck for him, the walkers already had seemed to notice him, as they started heading right towards him.

"No no no no no" he started muttering to himself as he frantically looked around for a place to hide.

He ran straight towards them, which resulted to be the worst idea he's ever had. He eyed a military tank on the side of the street, taking his gun again and starting running towards it, through the crowd of walkers.

Of course, to anyone who would have been watching him, he looked like a dumbass: naruto running towards a tank through a crowd of a hundred walkers, probably wanting to kill himself.

He started shooting them, as they fell one over another. Too bad for him that he didn't plan what to do once he got to the tank, so he did the most uninspired thing. He started shooting again, obviously regretting his life choices at that point.

He looked behind the tank for a moment, noticing that there was no walker behind it. But in between killing all the walkers on that side in order to be able to leave the spot where he was right then and actually getting to the other side of the tank and the street, risking to be followed by the hundreds of walkers until he was eventually going to be eaten alive by them, it was a really long way.

So what he did was sitting there, his back glued on the front side of the tank, being surrounded by God knows how many walkers who were willing to eat his insides, eventually shooting some of them in the head.

He obviously knew that he wasn't going to get them all down by himself.

He frantically looked around, searcing for a spot to get away through. He pushed one of the walkers, as the zombie fell backwards, dragging a few others along with him. Matt took advantage of the fact that they were on the ground, crounching down and crawling underneath the tank.

It finally seemed somehow safe, until the walkers started crawling after him, one over another.

Matt started shooting at them, managing to take them down, but they started coming from all four directions. He looked around, geniunely realizing that only a miracle would save him. He continued shooting though, but the amount of walkers were overwelming, and obviously impossible to handle.

Until he saw the miracle that was going to save him. The hatch in the floor of the tank.

A walker caught his leg.

He dragged himself inside the tank, kicking the walker's head, forcing him to let go of his leg in the process. He immediately closed the hatch door, breathing heavily.

He stood with his back against the control panel, running a hand through his hair.

"Holy shit" he said, before opening his eyes and finally managing to look around himself.

As if it wasn't enough, he was sitting next to a walker.

The walker looked at him, as he screeched, immediately getting away from him and taking his gun out, aiming to his head and pulling the trigger. The walker hit the floor with a 'thud'.

Matt stood for a few seconds in silence, with his eyes closed, his heart still racing from all the andrenaline.

At least he knew for sure that he was no longer tired after that.

He heard a snort, followed by a male voice. "You should have seen your face earlier."

The man laughed. "Man, it was priceless'

Matt furrowed his brows, opening his eyes and sitting up straight, looking around him. He took his gun, holding it defensively in front of his face.

"Yeah, you. The guy in the tank" the male voice spoke again. "Are you comfy in there?"

The boy eyed a small camera somewhere attached to the corner of the tank, as he crawled on his knees to get closer to it.

"What are you looking at? You know I can see you"

"Who are you?" Matt asked still staring at the camera.

"I will tell you when the time will come. But for now, if you want to live, you should get out here so we can help you."

"Who's 'we' ?" Matt asked still confused.

"I told you. You'll see. But you should get out now if you want a chance to get into our camp." the man spoke. "Get out throught the hatch right above you, and try to jump off the tank on the fire ladder so those motherfuckers won't catch you. See you on the bottom of the building."

Matt looked around him for a few seconds, analyzing his options. His original plan didn't work, so he ended up locked up in a military tank, and now he was getting an offer to get into a camp? He knew out of his six month experience that he couldn't trust anybody who showed up in his way.

As far as the humanity rules would say, at the end of the world the survivors are supposed to be united, and opened to help the others.

Well, you got the wrong apocalypse.

The survivors were spilled up in groups, and most of them were too selfish, so if you tried to make them get you in, they would get you in, and then kill you and eat you for dinner.

But this sounded weird. Matt has never heard other survivors talk to someone like they did. It was kinda scary in some sort of way. Of course, he knew that if they were one of those good gangs, they were going to test him and ask him plenty of questions untill they were eventually going to convince theirselves that he isn't dangerous, but he was smart enough to realize that he would have been too lucky to be saved by a group of survivors.

What if it was a trap, and they were calling him on the rooftop of the building only to kill him or something?

"What would you do to me if I would refuse?" Matt finally asked.

"Buddy, we're trying to save you" a voice, different than the first one spoke. "It's your choice if you want to survive or not."

"Look what's the thing: " Matt sighted. "I may be helpless and in a shitty situation, but I can't pretend that I'm blindfooled and deaf and trust you so easily."

"We don't know anything about you either. We just want to help you, but if you want to die there, go off"

"I'm not saying that I want to kill myself, because trust me, if I wanted to, I would have done-" Matt was interrupted by the ceiling hatch that suddenly opened.

Matt felt an arm grab him by the collar of his shirt, as he didn't have any time to react. He was dragged outside the tank, where the walkers were struggling to get inside.

The boy had a hood, so Matt couldn't really see his face, but he was a little bit shorter than him, and there was a black stripe of medium lenght hair getting out of the hood because of the wind. He was wearing black combat pants and boots, and what seemed like a hoodie over a T-shirt. He was holding a gun in his right hand, as he was still holding Matt's collar with his left hand.

He released the boy as they both got on the roof of the tank.

"Would you just shut up and come with me?!" The boy asked annoyed.

He turned to face Matt. He had a black mask over his face, but the thing that caught Matt's attention were his eyes. They were a bright shade of violet.

The boy turned back to the fire ladder, gained momentum and jumped on it.

"Your turn now." He said turning his head in Matt's direction, before turning back and climbing up, getting halfway up the building.

Matt looked down at the walkers who were trying to climb up on the tank, before swallowing and jumping on the fire ladder, right behind the purple-eyed boy.

The boy was the first one to get on the roof, holding his hand for Matt. Matt accepted it, brushing the dust off his clothes once he got there. He looked up, noticing another man, maybe in his late 20s, approaching him.

The man looked chinese, like the other one, and Matt assumed they were somehow related. He had a scar over his nose, his eyes were black, and his hair was black, with white strands in front. He was muscular, wearing a slim black shirt, at the base of his neck, with the sleeves rised up to his elbows, and combat pants and boots, just like his buddy.

He took a mask and gloves out of his pocket, putting them on, as the purple-eyed boy already had them.

"Keith, can you do it please?" he asked crossing his arms, watching Matt really closely.

"Do wh-" Matt couldn't finish his sentence.

In a matter of a second, 'Keith' immobilized him onto the ground.

Matt fell with his face against the cold concrete with a 'thud'. He groaned loudly, as the boy tied his hands together. He forced him up by his shoulders, as he checked him for any weapons. Matt couldn't say anything. Not yet. He knew that this is how any group was checking you out before letting you in, for everyone's safety.

Keith got his pocket knife and gun out and threw them on the ground, as well as the military gun and his backpack. He forced Matt on his knees, as he was searching through his stuff.

"Do you have any other weapons that you're hiding from us?" Keith asked.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Hold on, let me get it. I have an AK47 shoved up my a-"

"Don't" Keith cut him off. "I wouldn't be making bad jokes in your situation.

The other one approached him with the small well-known cardboard and what looked like a pen with a needle inside of it. He sat down on one knee behind him, taking one of his hands still tied together, and using the needle to sting his finger. He squeezed it, and then glued the small cardboard to it.

A few seconds after that, he took the small cardboard and smiled satisfyed under his mask, showing it to Matt. It was green.

"It's negative"

"You could have asked me and we could have done this in less time, without you stabbing my finger with that thing" Matt said.

Keith continued searching through his backpack, finding ammunition, and throwing it on the ground, over the guns.

He also found a small picture. He brought it closer to his eyes, analyzing it, before smirking and showing it to Matt. He rose an eyebrow. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Matt only furrowed his brows in a 'not funny' way, without saying anything.

"You shouldn't be touching my stuff. What if I'm infected?" Matt asked.

"I know for sure that you're not" Keith answered gesturing to the small cardboard that the other one had left on the ground.

Shiro got up, walking towards the door that led inside the building. "Let's get him inside. Get his stuff. We're keeping the weapons for now."


	2. Chapter 2

Day 189

The saviours

"You know that I'm not infected, right? I mean, you were there." Matt asked rising an eyebrow while being led by Keith through the long corridors of what seemed like an appartment complex.

The other male, who was walking in front of them, turned to face the blonde-haired boy.

"We do."

The man stopped in front of a door, opening it. "Why do you ask?"

"You tied my hands as if I'm a goddamn heathen" Matt said while Keith led him inside the small room.

It looked like a hotel room. The walls were covered with a dirty light blue wallpaper, and the furniture was dark brown, old and full of dust. There was what seemed like a couch covered with some white fabric, and a chair near the blinded window.

The room wasn't dark, but it wasn't full of light either. A light bulb or even a flashlight would have been good though.

Keith pushed Matt on the chair. "Who knows? Maybe you are." he smirked. 

Matt only rolled his eyes as Keith untied his hands and tied them again on the bars of the chair. 

The other male took another chair from the corner of the room, and brushed the dust off of it before turning it backwards and sitting on it, with his elbows on the backrest, facing Matt.

Keith finished tying Matt's arms, before walking across the room, to the door.

He stopped, turning back to the other one. "I'm going to get his stuff."

The older male just nodded, as Keith exited the room.

After the door closed, the male turned to look at Matt. He smiled, before taking the gun out of the shealth on his leg, and analyzing it in his hands.

Matt was already panicking.

"Look how this works," the male spoke. "I'm going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them, telling me only the truth. Got it?"

Matt nodded almost frantically, looking at the gun and swallowing.

"Good then" he said. "Are you part of any group?"

"I'm by myself" Matt answered immediately.

"For how long? How did you get here?"

Matt sighted, looking at his feet. Bringing the subject again. "We ran away six months ago, when it all started. There were the two of us, but... I've been all by myself for the past few days. My car crashed last night up the mountain and I had to walk by feet to the town."

"Do you still communicate with the person you used to be with?" The man asked, brushing some dust off the corner of the backrest with his thumb.

"We would have been able to communicate if your friend wouldn't have saved me" Matt said rising his eyebrows.

"Stop it with the bad jokes. I thought you were smart. " The man said in a tired yet calm voice.

The room fell quiet for a few seconds.

"How many groups do you know?" the man asked.

Matt furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb and tell me how many groups have you been in until now!" the man threatened rising his hand with the gun in the air.

The door was opened by Keith, who had taken down his mask and gloves, and now Matt could get a better look on his face. He was definietly chinese.

He got in, throwing Matt's backpack on the floor. 

"Your weapons are going to be safe and sound with us" he said after reciving a weird look from Matt.

Then he walked inside, carefully closing the door behind him.

He sat on the couch, not bothering to take the piece of fabric away.

The older male looked to him. "Did you call her?"

"Yes. She told me that she didn't find anything yet"

The male nodded, seeming calmer than ever. "Did you tell her the details?"

"Yes." Keith nodded, then continued after a few seconds of silence. "Shiro, you know her. She has her own techniques. She will use them, no matter what we tell her."

Matt rose an eyebrow, listening to the two boys's conversation.

"So should we move on now?"

Keith nodded.

"Alright." Shiro said sitting up, as well as Keith. He walked over to the chair where Matt was sitting, untying his hands, as Keith took his backpack from the ground, handing it to him.

"Don't try anything" he advertised. "I have a gun too, as well as my brother, and in case you do anything, there's the two of us plus our group against you."

So they're brothers.

"So a few minutes ago you were treating me as if I had the plague, and now you trust me enough to leave me like this? Man, this is pathetic." Matt laughed sitting up and taking the backpack from Keith's hand.

"If you still want to get to our camp and actually live, you better shut up" Keith said.

"Where did you leave the car?" Shiro asked ignoring their conversation.

"The underground parking lot. It's surprisingly not full of walkers." Keith answered opening the door and holding it for his brother and his prisonier.

He closed the door behind himself, as Matt was walking in between the two of them. He threw the car key over Matt's head, making him look up from the ground, and Shiro caught it as if he was expecting Keith to throw it.

They walked to the staircase, getting down the stairs to the underground parking lot. Before they opened the door, Shiro handed Matt a sword and his gun.

"Take these. Don't shoot unless you're cornered by walkers. When we get to the car, you get in the back with Keith. Got it?"

He nodded, as Shiro opened the door and walked inside the parking lot, holding a sword in his face defensively. Matt and Keith followed him, as he eyed the car in the corner of the parking lot. It was a white blinded van.

If it wasnt the apocalypse, he would have thought he was getting kidnapped.

The first walkers started to show up, as Shiro took care of them, trying to hurry to the car. 

He didn't notice when a walker came right behind him, as he was struggling to unlock the door, not seeming to find the right key.

"Shiro, behind you!" Keith yelled as he hurried to open the back door of the van.

When he turned his head, the walker's head was flying off their shoulders, as Matt was behind the walker, and he held his sword full of blood still in the air. 

Shiro's eyes widened at the realization.

It seemed like Matt wasn't as bad as he thought.

"Come on, get in" Keith told him holding the back door opened.

Matt let the sword down, throwing it in the back of the van, before jumping in, followed by Keith.

They heard the sound made by the engine, as the car started moving. They eventually stopped, as they heard Shiro's door slammed shut. Matt got up, wanting to open the back door and exit the car.

Keith stopped him by putting a hand on his chest. Matt furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

"We interrogated you because we need to know things about you before bringing you into our camp. That doesn't mean that we are a hundred percent convinced that you won't take your weapons back and attempt to kill us. We let you go because you would have been helpful if we got attacked. "

"What do you mean by-"

Matt stopped himself realizing what Keith was doing.

He got a piece of fabric and some rope out of the pants pocket.

In a splitsecond, he threw him on the floor. Matt fell with an 'oof' on his stomach, as Keith bended down above him, holding his hands together and tying them.

Matt sighted, before Keith put the black piece of fabric around his head, tying it in the back, and then putting it over his eyes.

Keith forced him up, and opened the back door of the van squinting his eyes because of the bright light, and pushing Matt out.

Matt tripped on the small staircase, as Keith held his shoulders, leading him through what Matt could guess it was grass, that could reach maybe his ankles. In front of him there was a huge building.

A Garrison headquarter, that probably got overrun.

Keith walked over to Shiro, who was in front of the main gate. 

"Do I lead him to her?" Keith asked motioning to the building.

"Yeah. I just talked to her, she's waiting in her office." Shiro answered.

"Let's go then" Keith gestured with his head.

"You go there" Shiro said. "I have to go check on everyone. Maybe you will join me later. I want to check the fences for any tears or walkers."

Keith nodded, as Shiro walked away. "I'll meet you there once it's done with him." 

Shiro rose his hand in the air, not stopping from walking, signaling that he agreed with what his brother said.

Keith took Matt by his arm, leading him to the building. He got to the front door, and entered the passcode. The door opened, as they were greeted by a black-haired male.

"Hey Kolivan" Keith said waving his hand slightly. 

Kolivan nodded at him. "A survivor?"

"It seems so. Krolia said she wanted to see him before anything."

Kolivan patted his shoulder slightly. "Alright then. See you later"

Keith smiled slightly, leading Matt through the long corridors. He stopped in front of a door, followed by Matt. He knocked before walking in.

The room was like any other normal office. There was the desk, with two chairs in front of it, and Krolia sitting behind the desk. 

Krolia has been working with the Blade Of Marmora since forever. Though, their story was really complicated.

She is Keith's mother, and her husband, Texas, died when Keith was only a baby. Being a part of the Blade of Marmora, she wasn't at home too much. She trusted Shiro, a family friend, to take care of Keith when she was gone. 

Throughout the time, Shiro went to college and became a teacher, as Keith didn't need to be babysit anymore. There is an eight year gap in between them, and before Shiro started babysitting Keith, Krolia needed to cancel all her meetings. Shiro came around when he was fourteen, and Keith was six, so Krolia could take care of the Blade Of Marmora properly, being one of the leaders. Since then, Shiro lived with them, becoming a part of the family.

She was a really strong woman. Her skin was pale and her shoulder-lenght hair was dark blue, but she wasn't asian, unlike the two boys. Keith had the asian genles from his korean father, and Shiro was asian because they were literally living in China at that time.

As you could tell, when the apocalypse started, their country was easily overrun. Krolia managed to run away with the Blade, while Shiro and Keith had to stay in the country, helpless.

They ran away and got to America, and unlike their expectations, the place was worse than China. They found Krolia, and got to her. Her and Kolivan, another leader, are the only ones alive out of the whole organization.

They lived from place to place for the past four months, but then they found survivors, and the Garrison academy. They cleaned it out of walkers, and made sure to make the security systems work. The supplies they found in there could last them for the next year, if they would use them carefully.

The survivors they found became a part of their team. There were James, Ina, Nadia, Ryan and Veronica. A bunch of teenagers, who begged them for help, so they helped them. They knew how it was to need help and not receive it, or just get it slapped in your face, and they most definietly didn't want anyone to feel like that.

Besides, this group gave them weapons, the thing they needed the most. 

There was Ina, the one who was in charge with the security system ,and obviously the smartest one out of all of them. Her blonde hair was short, and her eyes were blue. Her cheeks were covered in freckles. She was usually quiet and ankward, obviously not the one who had the word.

Then there was Veronica. The responsible one, the one who was ready to throw arms at anyone who bothered her. Her eyes were blue, she was tanned and her shoulder-lenght, wavy hair was dark brown. She was wearing some thin glasses, and she was a strong figure, like Krolia.

Nadia was the tomboy. She was tanned, and her dark-blue hair was held in a ponytail. She was wearing glasses, and her eyes were brown. She was the one who was fighting side by side with the boys. She was also the one who was always sent in missions, because it seemed like nothing could bring her down.

James was the leader, even though he wasn't really the most responsible to do it. He was the handsome one, but like every movie presents it, all the handsome characters are the most messed up. James had brown hair and brown eyes, his skin was pale. He was skinny but still really fit. Handsome, as I said. But he seemed to have huge communication issues. He was a hothead, and he wouldn't listen to Shiro's or Krolia's orders, sending his team into danger every single time they were out in missions.

Ryan was the guy Krolia and Kolivan could count on everytime when they needed someone to get in the battle without complaining. His skin was brown, as well as his eyes and hair. He was usually quiet, but a nice guy if you got to know him better. He was really fit, no wonder why James's group survived without Keith, Krolia, Shiro and Kolivan for almost three months.

They met just like any other group of survivors did. Ina and Nadia found Veronica, who lost her younger brother in a run, and ended up lost in the forest, and then the girls found Ryan and James.

Since they got into the academy, which was almost a month ago, they sent a group of two everyday in the town for any supplies or things that they need, because they planned on staying there for a long while.

The pairs were usually the same. Shiro and Keith, James and Veronica, Ina and Ryan, Keith and Nadia. Kolivan and Krolia would go into missions only if there was something important. Otherwise, they would just watch over the things there, at the Garrison Academy.

Krolia had to admit, it felt really weird being in a Garrison academy, considering that she was working for the Blade of Marmora, which was half Galra. They were actually feeding negative information about Galra, just to take them down. The virus was Galra's fault after all.

She adjusted herself in her seat, noticing Keith walk in with the boy.

"It took you long enough" she smirked to her son, taking advantage of the fact that Matt couldn't see them. He didn't need to know any information about them until they were sure about him.

Of course, it wasn't too much of a shame if he would have received information from them, and in the end he was proved to be part of a gang. They would have done the easiest thing: shoot him and get rid of his body.

Keith smiled slightly, pushing Matt on the chair, and taking the headband off his head.

Matt shook his head and squinted his eyes, adjusting them to the generous amount of light that was getting inside the room. Krolia played with the gun in her hand, as Keith walked in front of the door, protectively holding a gun, and aggresively glaring at Matt.

Krolia chuckled.

"So how comes we are blessed with your presence today?" She smirked, looking up and down at the blonde-haired boy.

Matt just glared at her. "If you think that flirting with me will make me tell you the story of my life, you're wrong"

Krolia snorted. "I wouldn't be flirting. Especially with a teenager that can be my son."

"What are you doing then?" Matt asked furrowing his brows, not breaking eye contact with her.

Krolia suddently got up from the chair, walking around the desk, to the chair where Matt was sitting. She was wearing black jeans, with combat boots and a purple slim turtleneck with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, with a black vest over it, and fingerless gloves.

Matt had to admit though: she was fit for her age, which was probably around fourty years Old. She was really tall, and she looked ready to take your kneecaps away if you got on her nerves. 

She balanced herself on the desk behind her, taking the gun again and playing with it in her hands. Matt suspiciously looked up at her.

"Are you part of any group?" she asked calmly, not even bothering to look at him.

"I thought your sons already gave you all the details about me. I bet you didn't find me in your data base and you're just trying to cover the fact that you already know everything about me, so you want to pretend that you don't" Matt said looking her straight in her face.

She looked up, as her eyes slightly widened. She looked at Keith, but then her expression relaxed, looking expectantly back at the blonde haired boy.

Matt just snorted. "Seriously now, you need to teach your subordinates to stop talking confidential shit in front of the prisonier. It's just stupid for them to think that I won't understand their 'coded' language." he said looking to the side, eyeing Keith with the corner of his eye.

Krolia crossed her arms, smiling a little. "Well, well, who thought?"

Keith was all red. Krolia looked at him and snorted. "Did you hear him, Keith? You should work on your techniques."

Keith scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, and for the record, I found you in our data base, but I figured you weren't part of any group, because you've been alone. Also, I sent someone to actually check on the car you said you crashed, and all the informations were rellevant." Krolia said. "How old are you again?"

"Nineteen" he answered.

"And your name is?"

"Matthew"

"Well, Matthew, welcome to the team" Krolia finally said.


	3. Chapter 3

Day 226

All the plans, gone wrong

"We're living one hell of a life in here, I have to admit" James said, facing his team.

Ina smelled the doubt in his voice. "But?"

"But we need to move"

Ryan furrowed his brows, looking at his buddy. "No, we're not having this talk again..."

"He's right, James." Veronica stated.

James looked at her as if she just said the dumbest thing.

Veronica continued. "We have food, water and a place to sleep. We are in a Garrison headquarter for fuck's sake! Not all survivors get this chance. Plus, we have the Blade Of Marmora leaders on our side. You literally can't ask for more!"

James walked closer to her, so their faces were only inches away.

He had the 'I feel like arguing with someone' look.

"A few days ago you didn't think the same, as far as I can remember."

James, Veronica, Ina, Nadia and Ryan were sitting in an empty office, because James had called a meeting.

He had been thinking about running away a while ago. He figured that Kolivan and Krolia would only slow them down in an eventual run, which wasn't true at all. Plus, a big part of the weapons (especially guns) that the whole team had were theirs.

His real reason for this whole run would actually be Keith, because he no longer felt like he could follow his or his brother's orders.

"James, you're not bringing that subject again..." Veronica sighted.

James seemed to ignore her. "A few days ago you were having a breakdown because you wanted to go out there alone and find your brother and nephews, and now you suddently seem to change your mind"

Veronica was looking him straight in the eyes, as she could feel tears forming in her own.

"And what? Now you are going to get all emotional and start crying?" James smirked.

"Don't you dare say that again Griffin" she threatened, pointing her finger at his face, her voice shaking.

James defensively rose his hands in the air, still smirking. "Ah, my bad. We're not joking around with latinas, I forgot"

Veronica's bright blue eyes were radiating pure madness. She grabbed James by the collar of his shirt, bringing him even closer to her face. He seemed shocked at first, but then his face softened and he brought up that smug look that characterized him too good.

Ryan rushed over to them before Veronica could say anything, pulling them away from each other, and holding Veronica back for a few seconds, while she was trying to jump at James's neck.

James pulled out his gun, when Nadia walked behind him and wrapped her arm around his neck, holding him in a choke position. James gasped for air, not really receiving any. He dropped the gun on the ground.

"If you had your younger brother and your ten and eight year Old nephews out there, knowing damn well that you promised your older brother to take care of his children and go through hell for them if he dies, wouldn't you feel bad that you have all the conditions here and some children are out there in the woods?!" she asked before releasing him.

Veronica and James were now glaring at each other. They haven't had the best relationship since they met, but there was no time for relationship issues back then, so they just kept it in.

James pushed Nadia away from him, taking his gun from the ground and placing it in its shealth.

He got up and found Ryan glaring at him. "Out of all the shitty orders that you gave us until now, this is the stupidest one. Why do you want to go out there? To find Veronica's brother?"

"We are not in the right place here." he answered pointing at Ryan's chest with his finger.

After the few minutes in which she's been quiet, Ina seemed to explode.

"Really James?! We are not in the right place?! Remind me again, who said that? Oh, you! The one who doesn't know how to give orders in missions, leading us every single time to near death experiences!"

"Ina, I think it's enough-" Veronica said, as she was stopped by Nadia, who put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let her be"

"Have you even noticed that the only missions that go well are the ones in which your shitty attitude and plans are not existent?!" she yelled in James's face.

"I am the one who saved your ass many times in missions."

"Trust me James, at this point, it doesn't even matter anymore, because if the plan wasn't yours, maybe you didn't have to save my ass. We are at this point where we no longer trust you to plan any damn mission that we're going in, because you almost get us killed every fucking time!"

"So you trust Keith?"

The room fell quiet.

"We all know that the reason why we 'hate' Keith is because you do." Ryan spoke calmly.

"So now everyone is against me?" James asked. "Well, well, it seems like if you don't like my orders, you're going to have to listen to Keith's orders for the rest of your miserable lives!" he shouted before storming out of the room.

***

"What even happened in there?" Shiro said more for himself, noticing James who stormed out of the office and madly walked past him, through the corridor that led outside the academy.

Keith, who was walking beside him, only sighted.

"Maybe it's just another chrisis..."

Shiro slightly shook his head.

"I don't understand why are we still keeping them here" Keith said as they walked past the office door.

Inside it seemed to be quiet, so they didn't bother to get in. They continued walking until they reached the stairs, and started climbing them up.

"What do you mean?" Shiro asked.

"They've never been fine with our plans, and they almost ended up killing me last week because of the plans that they came up with."

Shiro fell quiet for a few seconds, choosing his words.

"You know, I don't think it's their fault. James is forcing them to do all his plans."

"How can you be so sure?" Keith asked rising an eyebrow.

"Have you seen Veronica? She is so sick of listening to him, but they both want the same thing. They both want to get out of here."

"Yeah, but there's a difference." Keith pointed out. "Veronica wants to get out to find her family. Can you imagine what would it be like for a ten year Old and an eight year Old in the woods, with their nineteen year Old uncle? Think about it, Shiro. If you had children, and I would have promised you that I will take care of them even if that meant that I will die for them, how would you feel knowing that I just left them with my irresponsible younger sibling and I ran away to find a camp?"

"Keith, she didn't run away." Shiro sighted.

"No, she didn't, but that run was miscalculated by her, and that is the reason why she lost herself from them"

Shiro stayed quiet, as they reached the first floor.

They were able to clean up the first two floors of the building in the second day since they got there, but they never had time to manage the other walkers at the second floor, which was the last one. They just locked the floor, and hopefully the walkers weren't going to attack them.

The staircase from the base floor was always locked, so even if the walkers tried to escape, they woudln't be able to get to the base floor.

Anyways, if they were actually going to decide one day that they needed to get rid of all the walkers there, that means they had to throw them out the window, because they couldn't carry the dead bodies all the way down to the base floor, because that meant they were going to fill the place with the smell.

After a few seconds of silence, in which they started walking around the second floor hallway, Shiro decided to talk.

"You know, I actually managed to talk to Matt."

Keith looked up at him, a surprised look on his face. "Oh, really?" He asked.

"Yeah. He said that the girl in the picture was his sister. She died a few days before we rescued him."

Keith looked straight ahead of him. "Well, it's good that he opens up about this."

Shiro continued. "He said that they were in a school for a medicine run. They hoped they were going to find some medicine in the doctor's office, because the city was coming to an end and they didn't know if they were going to find any pharmacy later on."

"Matt was going to make noise in the outside to attract the walkers, while his sister was going to get inside and get the medicine."

"Then why did it fail?" Keith asked nonchalantly.

"She underestimated the time, and she got bit."

Keith looked down. "That's sad. You know, having a good plan that actually worked, and then being slapped in the face with something like this."

Shiro nodded. "He said that they were never getting along when it came about plans. Or anything"

Keith chuckled slightly.

"The way Matt told us about his sister makes me think about you and James. You are two hotheads with brilliant ideas, but you have your own ways to do things."

"You are both smart and strong, and that makes you think that you're too good for one another. You are making the plans for our team, Matt, Krolia, Kolivan and I. And James is making the plans for his team. Nadia, Ina, Veronica and Ryan. The thing is, you don't really realize that those two teams are a single one."

"You're a great leader, Keith. And I know that I am basically the one who leads now. But if something happens with me-"

He was stopped by Keith. "Shiro, don't talk like this..."

"No, Keith. If something happens with me, I want you to lead this team, and prove James that you are better than him. And if he doesn't like your lead, he can find his own path to follow on his own. I know that his team is sticking around him because they've known each other for longer, and they don't trust us enough to follow our lead. But trust me, I know for sure that if James leaves, they're gonna be relieved."

"And I am talking about this because there will be a time where I will no longer be here with you, maybe as well as Krolia and Kolivan. I want you to not think about us. The dead no longer matters, as long as you make sure they won't come out as walkers. All that matters is you, and your team that you're dealing with after that."

Keith's eyes were filled with tears. "Thank you, Shiro"

Shiro leaned to hug the shorter boy. "Never lose hope, Keith. You are here right now for a reason. The weak ones fell, and only the strong ones are left to fight for what's theirs."

***

"You didn't leave?" Veronica asked rising an eyebrow, as James made his way inside the room they slept in.

She was sitting down on a random bed, trying to assemble what seemed like a broken walkie talkie.

James walked to his bunk bed, which was at the other end of the room, climbing up to the top bed. He reached for his backpack, searching for a shirt, because the one he was wearing was full of blood. He probably had killed some walkers.

The room was originally a training deck, but they didn't have access to the dorms, which were at the top floor, so they took the bunk beds from the emergency shed and set them up on the training deck, mostly so all of them can be together if something happens.

The women were sleeping on a side of the room, the bunk beds were in an 'L' form in the left corner of the room, right behind the door, while the men's beds were in the right corner of the room. Two of the beds were in the same 'L' shape, while the third one was parallel with the one that was on the wall with the door.

In the room there was also a sink, and the window was parallel with the door. Under the window they were keeping their weapons.

The walls were a dirty grey, not helping but giving the room a prison atmosphere.

James just glared at her. "Would I be doing you a favour by leaving?"

Veronica rised her eyebrows. "It depends"

"On what?" James snapped.

Veronica just looked at him nonchalantly.

James got off the bed, and stood with his back facing the girl. He took his shirt off, as Veronica didn't look at him, being too busy with the walkie talkie. He put the new shirt on, which was a slim black one, leaving his muscle visible.

He turned to walk towards the door. He stopped for a moment, not turning to look at her.

"You are lucky that you're a girl, because otherwise I would have beaten the fuck out of you" he said.

Veronica snorted.

"As if you could. If I was a man, I would have been way stronger than you"

"Whatever you say, mamma bear" James said before leaving the room.

Veronica sighted and shook her head slightly, not bothering to look up from the walkie talkie. Well, what was left of it.

"Asshole" she muttered under her breath.

"Who's an asshole?"

Veronica gasped. She didn't notice Ina walking inside the room.

She sat on the bed in front of Veronica.

Ina rised her eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

Veronica looked at her. "What?"

"Who's an asshole?" she asked again.

Veronica scoffed. "As if you didn't know already."

Ina's eyebrows rised, as she understood. "So mr. Perfect Hair has been here?"

"No shit Sherlock" Veronica said looking back at the walkie talkie and starting to take off pieces out of it.

Ina looked around for a few seconds. "You know, he might be a jerk, but let me tell you something: we need him if we plan on getting out of here."

"So now you're on his side?"

"I didn't say that, but we can't stay here forever while the world is dying. There are survivors who need us. Your brother, his best friend and your nephews, Matt's sister-"

She was cut off by Veronica. "Don't bring her into that. She's dead"

Ina shook her head. "We don't know that"

"Matt said she didn't have any pulse, Ina are you going insane?!"

"Matt could have easily just killed her to get rid of her and tell us that she killed herself." Ina stated.

"Do you hear yourself?" Veronica asked utterly revolted. "Did you meet anyone who killed their siblings only to get rid of them?! Do you think I would have the heart to kill my own brother, after all we've been through?!"

Ina stayed quiet.

"Do you think I would have the heart to kill my own brother, Ina?!" she asked again.

"I didn't say that he killed her." Ina said calmly. "At least, I didn't mean it."

"Then what did you mean?" Veronica asked trying to calm down.

"I meant that he could have easily lied about the way she died"

"And why would he do that?" Veronica asked getting angry again.

"I don't know, we need to consider every possibility."

"Why are we even talking about this, Ina?! Because you're making yourself illusions that Matt's sister is alive? What is it? Another lie to get out of here?"

"I don't need lies to get out of here" Ina said, before Veronica just got up and walked out of the room.

"What the hell is even going on in this academy..." she muttered to herself.

She has been close to James and his team, because she had known them for the longest, so she didn't bother to get to know Keith's team better once they met. Though, she knew James could sometimes be a total jerk, but Ina? She was the last person to expect to say shit like that to her. How could she even come with the completely fake idea that Matt's sister was alive?

But despite that, she knew a thing for sure: she was going to find Lance, Hunk, Nadia and Sylvio, and she was going to do that with or without Krolia or James.


	4. Chapter 4

Day 191

The real survivor

The small group looked up at the building ahead of them. 

"Do I go to check first?" The brown-haired boy asked.

He was tall and skinny, yet still fit in some sort of way. His skin was tanned, and his hair was short and wavy. His eyes were bright blue. He was wearing combat boots and pants, with a sleeveless slim shirt. He had a military type of gun over his shoulder, and a regular gun in the shealth on his leg.

He was holding a small girl's hand. The girl could barely reach his elbow. Her hair was black and wavy, while her dirty face was pale, and her eyes were black.

Behind them were walking the boy's best friend, and the girl's older brother.

The boy was almost as tall as the other one, and there was only one word you could describe him with: big. He was full of muscle. He was wearing khaki combat pants and black boots, with a black shirt at the base of his neck, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was black and his eyes were brown, he was tanned, and he had tatoos over his arms because of his culture. He was wearing a yellow headband on his forehead.

Beside him was walking the small girl's brother. He was a little bit taller than his sister, but his skin was tanned, and his hair was dark brown, while his eyes were brown.

The girl glanced over to the main road. She gasped slightly, turning to the boy who was holding her hand. She took her hand away, using it to shake his shoulder. Well, as far as she reached. 

"Tio Lance, look!" she said pointing to the road.

All three boys turned their attention to the road. Their eyes widened.

There were about ten dead walkers, one over another, in the middle of the road.

Lance furrowed his brows, putting a hand over the girl's eyes, and leading her by the shoulders through the gates inside the yard of the building. His buddy did the same with the boy, as they stopped by the front door, watching the building.

"As far as it seems, someone took care of the walkers here" Lance looked over to his friend.

"Someone should check first before we take them in" The boy said, gesturing over to the children.

"I'll go" Lance said taking the gun from over his shoulders and holding it in his hands, approaching the building. He studied the shattered glass on the floor by the front entrance, before stepping over it and stopping, looking back at the trio.

"Oh, and Hunk?"

The boy looked at him.

"Take care of them, okay?"

Hunk smiled slightly and nodded, as Lance had a ghost of a smile on his face. He turned back to the building.

He hadn't stepped inside a school in the past seven months. He walked through the hallway, noticing that the place was clear. He checked the first two classrooms, before walking to the small hall that was leading upstairs.

He checked the first, second, and top floor, and for his surprise, the only walkers there were already dead.

He got back outside, where the kids and Hunk were waiting.

"Everything seems clear" he said, a hint of surprise in his voice.

Hunk led the kids into the building. When they walked past Lance, Hunk rised an eyebrow and looked him directly in the eyes. "What is it?"

"Someone cleared it up, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone is still here." Lance said.

Hunk furrowed his brows. "It might be possible. Do you know what that means?"

Lance nodded. "Survivors"

"Hunk walked in front of Lance, taking his gun out of the shealth and pushing the kids back. "Let's check out all the classrooms."

Lance nodded again, and then looked at the children. "Stay right behind us. If we run, you run, okay?"

They agreed, as Lance walked beside Hunk. Hunk looked at him before pointing to a classroom close to the emergency exit. There were about ten more dead bodies outside the door.

The children whined, looking in different directions. 

"Why is there a desk against the door?" Lance asked, pointing to the door.

They reached to the door, and Hunk carefully pushed the desk out of his way.

Lance looked back at the siblings, who looked utterly disgusted. They were glued right behind the two teenage boys. Lance put a finger over his lips, looking at them, motioning them to be quiet, as they nodded.

Hunk kicked the door open, as he instantly gasped, taking the mask out of his pocket and putting it on. Lance didn't know what was going on at first, because Hunk was blocking his sight.

Hunk hurried inside the classroom, stopping a few feet away from the door. He looked down at the unconscious body.

There was puddle of blood in the back of the class, and then a trail of blood that was leading to one of the front desks, where the girl was laying, in another puddle of blood.

Her hair was above her shoulders, the dirty blonde color was stained with blood. She was wearing black jeans, and combat boots with what seemed like a once white top, and a green flannel shirt tied around her waist. 

Hunk looked over to her. "I don't think she's infected."

Lance walked closer to him, finally taking a good look of the girl. His brows furrowed, seeing all the blood. "Man, I don't think she's alive either."

Hunk looked at him before putting his gloves on and bending down, reaching for her neck to check for any pulse. He seemed surprised at first, so he checked the second time. 

"It's weak, but there is a pulse"

"We should help her" he suggested, looking up at his buddy.

Lance seemed in denial.

"We were planning on staying here for a few days anyways, so maybe she gets better and we will have one more fighter." Hunk suggested.

Lance sighted. They already had Nadia and Sylvio, who were too young to fight anyways, and they needed to be protected all the time, no wonder an injuried person was only going to make things worse.

"Isn't she bit?" he asked.

Nadia and Sylvio walked inside the classroom, frowning at the sight of all the blood. Nadia walked further inside, glancing over to the back of the class. "Tio Lance, she isn't" she said pointing somewhere. 

Lance looked there, only to see the puddle of blood, and a knife inside of it.

His brows furrowed. "Did she stab herself?" he asked more for himself.

Hunk turned her on her back, and started analyzing her wound. 

"It's deep. This is why she bled so much. Nadia, can you please give me a test from your backpack?"

The girl nodded walking towards him, taking her own backpack and searching for the small cardboard. Once she found it, she gave it to Hunk.

Lance and Sylvio had walked further inside the classroom. Lance looked over to the corner, where a backpack has been thrown. He walked and picked it up. He opened it, revealing something that they haven't seen in a good while.

"Hunk, we've got medicine!" he said almost happily.

Hunk looked up at him over the desks, from his spot in front of the classroom. "Are there any bandages or something that I can put some stitches with?" he asked.

Lance walked with the backpack to the samoan boy, who was holding the test, analyzing it.

"Is she infected?" Lance asked.

"Surprisingly, no" Hunk answered showing the green cardboard to his buddy.

Lance handed him the backpack. "Here. Take whatever you need. I'll take Sylvio to the nurse's office. It's at the second floor, and maybe we can find something else that would be useful."

Hunk nodded, as Lance and Sylvio left. He took a bottle out of the backpack, analyzing it to see what substance it contained. 

"Hydrogen peroxide" he read, as the small girl frowned. 

"Isn't it going to hurt her?"

"We need to desinfect the wound. Otherwise, she will get the virus. Plus, she is unconscious, and she's most probably not going to wake up for a good while."

***

"I just covered the front and back door, so nobody can get in. I found a set of keys and I was able to lock the front door." Hunk said walking inside the classroom where they settled theirselves in.

It was a normal classroom. They moved all the desks in front of the class, so the back was an empty space. They had a sleeping bag, in which Nadia and Sylvio were usually sleeping, and some blankets for Hunk and Lance.

Hunk had managed to stitch up the girl's wound, and they had moved her in the other side of the back of the class, on a blanket. 

Hunk looked down at the girl.

"So if we need to go we will have to break the door?" Lance asked. "The widows have bars, so it's basically impossible to get out through there.

"No. I only replaced the shattered glass with some wood pieces. The front door opens normally, but I couldn't do anything for the other one. The glass was literally smashed, so I had to completely cover it." Hunk explained. 

"That's fine" Lance said.

"Oh, and there is something else" Hunk said. "I checked the restrooms, and the water is running. We can hopefully clean ourselves up a little."

Lance's eyes lit up. "That's good. Can you please take Nadia and Sylvio and help them clean up? I will come too, but I need to settle up the sleeping area first, and maybe take a run to the cafeteria. Hopefully I will find something."

Hunk nodded. "Alright" He looked to the children, who were curiously looking at the unconscious girl on the blanket, in a corner of the classroom. "Who wants to wash up?"

The two looked up, smiling. 

Their enthusiasm about the simple fact that they had water made Hunk smile. "Come on. You should change your clothes."

Lance searched in one of his backpacks, handing them some random clothes of theirs, as they left with Hunk to the restrooms. 

Lance sighted, placing his hands on his hips and looking around. It was the best place that they found since they lost Veronica. It was good, but Lance still had his own doubts about the girl they found.

She looked horrible. He didn't know what happened there, and he wasn't going to find out until the girl was going to wake up, and maybe open up to them.

Her clothes were literally soaked with blood. The freckles across her cheeks were covered with dried blood, as well as both her arms and neck. Her dirty blonde hair was above her shoulders, he could guess, and it was held in a low ponytail, again, full of dried blood. She was thin, he could tell that when he picked her up and moved her to the other classroom. But other than that, she looked really pale.

No wonder it was because of the blood loss. He figured she might have lived in a toxic gang, who maybe tried to get rid of her, thinking that stabbing her arm was the best solution. She was too lucky if she could still use that arm.

Along with the knife in the blood puddle, they also found a gun and a walkie talkie. They kept them, and they were probably going to give them back to her once she was going to wake up.

He sighted again and bended down to open one of the backpacks, where the sleeping bag was. He took it out, walking to where the last desks in the row they made were. He placed the sleeping bag down and folded it open, doing the same thing with the blankets where him and Hunk were supposed to sleep on.

Him and Hunk had take care of Sylvio and Nadia more than they took care for theirselves. Being nine and ten years Old in the middle of the apocalypse was hard, but they just lost their parents and their aunt who swore on her life that she was going to take care of them, and now they got stuck with their 19 year Old irresponsible uncle and his best friend.

They were waking up in the morning and starting to move on, not stopping unless they were finding a place to sleep. They were rarely finding food on their way, and Hunk had to hunt squirrels and somehow cook them, but the kids always ended up throwing up the squirrel meat.

He needed to find a stable place where they could stay until they found Veronica. She was a girl, and way more mature than him. She understood Nadia and Sylvio better, and they seemed to have a good time with her, despite their hard time.

He was clinging onto the hope that the new girl was somehow going to take Veronica's place for a while, being the female figure in the group, even though she looked way younger than him, and she probably never took care of kids.

His male figure couldn't cope with children. He seemed to lose his temper really easily, while Hunk could manage it a little bit better, but not good enough, obviously. The two siblings grew up really close since Veronica disappeared. She always seemed to be so calm and understanding with them, a thing that he simply couldn't do.

***

Hunk accepted the canned food from Lance, as he sat down beside Nadia and Sylvio, opening it. Lance took one for himself, as they quietly started eating.

They all managed to clean theirselves up with the ice cold water that was surprisingly still running in the restroom. Lance found the canned food in the cafeteria, and brought it to them.

They couldn't ask for more. They had food, water and a place to sleep. The best they've had in the past months.

Hunk glanced over to the girl, who was presumably sleeping, because she just rolled on her side, facing the wall in front of her. "She should wake up soon"

Lance looked at him, thinking for a few seconds. "Hunk, what do you think happened there?"

"Where?" Hunk asked rising an eyebrow.

"What do you think happened with her?" he said gesturing to the girl.

Hunk sighted, looking away. "To be honest Lance, I have no idea. I mean, it was obviously someone else who's done that to her, but I have no idea what might possibly have happened there. What were all those walkers doing out the door?"

"It looks like she tried to kill herself" Lance said. "She fought with the walkers, got them out, and tried to stab herself."

"Tsk. It doesn't make any sense. There was the desk outside, and the door was locked. She wasn't alone."

The room fell in complete silence as they heard a groan from the other corner of the class.

"Matt, shut the fuck up and stop talking to yourself" the girl said.

Lance furrowed his eyebrows in an amused way and looked at Hunk, who snorted.

The girl fell in complete silence, not bothering to turn to face them.

"...You're not Matt, are you?" she asked after a few long seconds.

"Who even is Matt?" Lance asked.

"Nope, you're not Matt..." she sighted, as Lance looked about to start laughing.

She sighted and tried to sit up, as Hunk walked towards her and sat down on one knee beside her.

He pushed her shoulders back, forcing her to sit down. "Lay down" he said.

The girl looked offended. "Who even are you? And how did you get here? What did you do with my brother?!"

Lance let the can down and walked towards the two.

"Calm down, will you?" he asked looking down at her.

"I won't calm down until you will tell me what the hell happened with me" she said annoyed.

"Okay, first off, there are children in this room-" Lance was stopped by Hunk, who put a hand over his mouth to make him stop talking.

"Look, we don't want to do any harm to you, we were actually hoping that you were going to tell us what happened with you."

Her eyebrows furrowed, as her big golden eyes were staring directly in Hunk's brown ones. At that point, she was balancing herself on her elbows.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Nadia walked behind Lance, poking his arm. "Uncle Lance, is she awake?"

The girl looked at Nadia, as she seemed confused for a few seconds.

"How many of you are here?" she asked almost scared.

Lance bended down to her level, pointing to the boy behind them, who was watching the scene from the sleeping bag.

"Just the four of us"

"Did- Did you kidnap me?! Where is my brother?" she asked looking at the two boys.

Lance seemed offended. "I'm glad you're alive too..." he said, rising his eyebrows and looking away.

Hunk pushed Lance's chest slightly, smiling as if he was trying to excuse him. "What he's trying to say is that, if we would have kidnapped you, we would have tied you up, which is not the case, because we didn't kidnap you..."

She had an unimpressed expression. "You're rambling"

"Well, he gets flustered around new people, unlike someone who seems to be jeky" Lance said rolling his eyes.

The girl rose an eyebrow. "You still didn't answer me. Where is my brother?"

"Is he the 'Matt' you were talking about?" Hunk asked.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"We don't know anything about any brother of yours. We just found you here, half dead. You're welcome" Lance said.

"Lance, stop it" Hunk whispered under his breath. "And just for the record," he said turning to the girl. "You should stop that attitude, because we're the ones who saved your life"

"If tio Hunk wasn't there to patch you up, you would have died." the girl said, with her big black eyes staring into the girl's.

Her expression softened, as she closed her eyes, trying to remember anything. "Sorry but... I'm confused. I genuinely have no idea how I got here and who are you people... this is all"

Hunk smiled sympathetically. "Let's make it less confusing then. I'm Hunk."


	5. Chapter 5

Day 250

Failed mission

"You know some things about us..." Lance said looking expectantly at the short girl walking beside him.

"I do" Pidge said, not even bothering to look at him. "What's wrong with that?"

"I would like to know some things about you too. You know, it's been a month since we saved you, and the only thing that I know about you is your name and the fact that you came here with your brother, who left you to die in a classroom."

"Isn't it enough?" Pidge asked on a neutral tone.

"I'm not saying that it isn't enough, but you know me and Hunk too good, and we know you too little to not at all." he said, trying to bring her up to speak about it. "Come on, we could simply have left you there to die, and you wouldn't have been able to be here right now."

She sighted frustratedly. "Fine"

Lance smiled satisfied. 

"My actual name is Katie. Pidge is just a nickname that my brother gave me." she said.

Lance rised an eyebrow, listening with interest.

"And for your interest, he didn't leave me to die. He had all the reasons to leave me there."

Lance's expression changed, looking at her with his brows furrowed. "I don't understand. Wasn't him the one who stabbed you?"

Pidge looked at him with wide eyes, as if he just said the dumbest thing ever. 

Lance realized his mistake. "Sorry. I didn't mean it that way. You should tell me the whole story though."

Pidge looked ahead of her, as they were continuously walking through the woods. They've just left the base camp for a gathering supplies mission, leaving Hunk to babysit the children.

They've grown a really strong bond in the past weeks, and Nadia and Sylvio had naturally gotten really close to Pidge, being the only female figure in the group after Veronica got lost. Though, she didn't really know how to manage children. She has been the youngest in her family after all. The others were the ones who had to know how to manage with her.

So Hunk, being the most sensitive one, would rather stay with the children than go out there and blow some walker brains, covering himself with guts so he won't get noticed. He was the only one in the team with medical knowledge, being in the second year of med school before it all started, so he had to prevent getting himself hurt, so he could help out the others.

Pidge and Lance on the other side, were the warriors of the team. They were ready to fight and kill everyday, everytime. That's why they were the ones always going into missions.

Hunk always thought that it was weird to be more fearful than a sixteen year Old girl, but he saw with his own eyes, that girl couldn't be dragged down too easily, even with her little-over eighty pounds and four feet and nine inches

She grew stronger and fearless ever since they found her. She refused to let them protect her since the first day. She insisted that they needed to leave, even with 104 degree fever and an infection with which she risked losing her arm.

She eventually made it through and the infection went away, but she still needed to patch it up until it was going to heal completely, to avoid another infection. 

"We had a good plan for the moment. He was going to atract all the walkers outside the schoolyard and run them over, and I was going to get inside and search for medical supplies. I told him to leave without me if I don't come back after two minutes, and I kind of misunderstood the time. I was at the back door when some walkers found me, and I had no choice. I hid in that classroom, to get rid of them. I was going to jump out the window..."

She paused. 

Lance looked at her. "But the window had bars..."

She nodded. 

"They broke the door, got in and one of them cornered me in the back of the class. I escaped that though, and took care of the others in the front of the class. My knife fell out my pocket when that walker pinned me down, and they took it. When I turned back at them, they used my own knife against me."

She smiled sadly.

"I eventually blacked out, while my brother was desperately telling me to get to the car through the walkie talkie"

"Then when I woke up again, he was gone. The walkers were no longer in front of the class, where I have left them, and the door was locked."

"So you tried to drag yourself to the door?" Lance had guessed.

"Mhm" she said, looking at her feet for a few seconds.

Lance sighted. "You're lucky the blood had dried, and the only thing that you caught was a simple infection. You could have taken the virus. Maybe your brother thought you already did, and this is why he locked you inside. He could easily have been ruthless and shoot you in the back of the head."

Pidge looked up at him. "Maybe you're right" she paused for a few seconds.

She felt relieved to talk about that with someone, but at the same time she wanted so bad to change the subject.

"Do you plan on searching for him?" Lance snapped her out of her thoughts.

"What?" Pidge asked, not understanding what he meant.

"Do you plan on searching for your brother?"Lance asked again.

"I am searching for him" Pidge answered.

"You don't seem like you do."

"I have my own ways." she shrugged.

Lance looked down at her belt, where the walkie talkie was. "The walkie talkie?"

"I'm hoping to catch some chatter, or at least communicate with someone, but I don't seem to find anything."

"It will eventually come the time when you will find him. You know, if nothing happened to him." Lance said placing a hand on her shoulder.

Pidge smiled, looking up in his blue eyes. "What about you?"

Lance sighted, taking his hand away and scratching the back of his head. "I really hope I find Veronica. She's the only one that I have left out of my whole family."

"Did you have a big family?" Pidge asked.

Lance smiled, looking up at the trees surrounding them. "Like any latino family. I had two older brothers, an older sister and a twin sister. I was the youngest out of them all. Marco, my brother, was married. Nadia and Sylvio are his children, and when he got infected, Veronica promised him that she was going to take care of those children with her life. Naturally, when Veronica got lost, I took the responsability in my own hands."

Pidge smiled slightly.

"What about you?" Lance asked.

"My family was pretty small. Matt was my only sibling, and our parents were gone most of the time because of their jobs. We never really spent time together, and the fact that I was with my brother most of the time led to us hate each other. But when it all started, we changed completely."

"Where were your parents working?"

"With the Garrison. Mom was a doctor and dad was a commander."

Lance was shocked. "Wait, what?! You could have been in a safe place right now. I bet they're alive in there."

"They're not. Dad was found dead in his hotel room in China after a conference, and mom was stabbed by an infected patient. The Garrison didn't seem to give a shit about us, so we just ran away."

"What about you?" she asked.

"My parents were owning a farm. They got bit by one of our neighbours, they turned and bit my siblings, and Veronica and I were the only ones left, with Nadia and Sylvio. Hunk was living nearby us, so we took him with us."

"Where do you come from?"

"Cuba" was the boy's answer. "Where do you come from?"

"I used to live in Italy when I was young, but we moved to LA because of our parents' work"

"Cool, so we both know other languages."

"How did you guys travel such a long way here? We're literally in Ontario, close enough to New York." Pidge said. "I mean, my brother and I drove for six months to get here."

"We took a flight to Michigan, half a year ago, but it was burnt down, so we had to find something else. We were thinking about getting to New York, but now I have doubts about it. It may be even more dangerous than Ontario."

They paused. "We'll think of other methodes when we get there." Pidge said. "But for now, we're comfortable enough here. Who knows? Maybe we will find our siblings before New York. After that, I know some routes that we can take to be safe and sound for a while."

Lance looked down at her, smiling. "Maybe we will, actually..."

***

"A highway" Pidge said looking ahead of her. "I never thought I was going to see one of these again."

Lance pushed back a bush, before jogging to catch the small girl. A smile grew on his face. "And a highway should lead to a city"

Pidge walked to the highway. There were stopped cars all across it, and it looked as if someone had robbed the place.

"It doesn't seem like any walker is around here." Lance pointed out, looking around.

"Should we check this out? Maybe we can find something." Pidge suggested, looking behind her at the tall boy.

He nodded. "We're looking for water and food in the first place. Weapons, and whatever else can be helpful, like medicine."

"Got it" Pidge said before walking towards the first car, while Lance walked in the other direction. He abruptly stopped, looking back at her.

"Don't get too far away."

Pidge rised an eyebrow. "You don't need to babysit me, you know?"

"You're like, twelve." Lance laughed.

"Seventeen" Pidge crossed her arms.

"Right. Twelve." he smiled before turning back and walking towards a car, as Pidge smiled playfully before doing the same thing.

She walked to the first car, carefully looking for walkers. The door was opened, and there was an empty water bottle on the driver's seat. She took it and smelled it, as she furrowed her brows, a look of disgust on her face. She threw the bottle away, before opening the glove compartment. She threw some papers away, finding an orange bottle with pills. 

She read the name, rising her eyebrows. "Amoxicillin."

She took the bottle and placed it in the front pocket of her flannel shirt.

She walked to the carrier, opening it and looking at the multitude of clothes inside of it. She sighted, starting to scrub through them.

The sound of a gunshot rang through the air, as she instantly jumped up, looking around her.

There was a male voice, coming from not too far away. "One down"

Her eyes widened, as she frantically looked around for Lance. Instead, she localized a small group formed of four people, walking out the forest, on the highway. She instantly jumped behind the car, looking to her left, where Lance had gone. 

He was there, searching for the source of the gunshot sound in the wrong way. She carefully looked again at the small group, who was approaching the spot where she was. She crounched behind another car, closer to Lance's spot.

She looked again behind herself, at the group, who were getting closer. Not having any time to get Lance's attention, she quickly dragged herself under the car.

She looked at Lance, who seemed to realize that something was going on. He crounched against a car's side, looking around for her.

Not finding her, he dragged himself underneath that car, still looking around.

Pidge was trying to wave her hand to get his attention, knowing that he was probably going to do something stupid if he didn't see her somewhere where the gang couldn't see her, but failing obviously. Even though they were basically facing each other, Lance couldn't seem to notice her.

Pidge suddently felt the footsteps coming closer. They stopped, as her eyes widened, realizing that she dropped the pills right beside the car wheel.

She saw a hand grabbing the pills and picking them up, and the figure seemed to be back up for a few seconds, before the pills fell to the ground again, and the hand reached under the car, grabbing her leg and violently dragging her out.

She escaped a yell, as she was now on the ground, looking up at a brown haired boy.

"Rat" he laughed.

Pidge tried to get up, but he pinned her back down with his foot by her arm. She squealed in pain, looking to the side. He just pressed his foot full force on her arm, which had stitches.

"Awh, boo hoo, I just hurt you a little." he smirked, as Pidge could see three other people approaching them.

Lance suddently dragged himself out, aiming his gun at the boy.

"Don't you touch her!" he advertised, as Pidge mentally facepalmed.

This was the stupid thing that he did. If he really wanted to live, he could have stayed under that damn car.

The boy looked up at Lance and smirked. In a matter of a second, he lifted Pidge off the ground so now she was staying on her knees, facing Lance, and took his gun, pressing it against the girl's forehead.

Pidge had a look of horror on her face, despite the pain, and the patch around her arm that had already started to turn red.

Lance looked at her and his eyes widened, noticing an expression on her face that he had never seen before: utter fear.

"Shoot me and I'll pull the trigger" he spoke, as the other teenagers had came from behind him, looking confused.

"James, what's going on?" A blonde-haired girl asked.

Lance let the gun down, as James let go of Pidge, who soon enough had collapsed on the ground.

James turned to his group, formed by the blonde girl, a black guy, and another tanned girl with dark blue hair.

"I found some rats" he said, sitting up.

"We're just searching for supplies" Lance said rising his hands in the air, slowly walking over to Pidge and helping her up.

Pidge looked up at the group, analyzing them closely.

She could see the black-haired girl looking at her and gasping. The white boy had seemed to notice too, because he hit the girl in the ribs, regaining his composure. James looked at the two teenagers in front of him and smiled.

"I think Krolia is going to be glad to see this" he spoke.

The black-haired girl behind him had a weird reaction to what he said, slapping his arm and violently turning him to face her.

"James, are you fucking insane?! We can't go back there, you know that!"

James seemed to be calm, as he looked at the blonde haired girl and the black guy and signaled them with his finger to get the 'rats'.

They nodded, walking over to them and taking them by their arms. The black boy looked down at Pidge, and then at the flannel shirt that was already soaked with blood.

"Did you get bit?" he asked, holding Lance.

The blonde girl had grabbed her good arm, gently taking the other one and analyzing it.

Pidge flinched, taking her arm away.

"Did you get bit?" the black boy asked again, more louder this time.

"She didn't." Lance said. "She was stabbed"

The black boy nodded, looking over to his teammate. "Be careful with her. We want to get her alive to the academy."

Lance looked at him, almost panicked. "Where are you taking us?"

James turned to them. "Somewhere safe. Why do you care, anyways? It's not like you have anywhere else to go."

Pidge looked up at Lance, who seemed terrified.

She was concerned too, of course. They were basically getting kidnapped by some teenagers not any older than them, and taken to some sort of academy, while Hunk, Nadia and Sylvio were starving out there, waiting for them.

Lance, on the other side, didn't know what to do. He had to tell them that there are others out there waiting for them, but at the same time he knew that once he told them, they could just go over there and get all Hunk, Sylvio and Nadia killed.

"James, we just left. They are not going to get us back in. Especially after the whole Veronica thing! What makes you go back there?" the black haired girl turned again to James, whispering.

"She might be Matt's sister, and he looks too much like Veronica" James whisper-yelled, looking the shorter girl in the eyes. "Think about it, they are our ticket there"

"James, this is absolutely stupid!" The girl said throwing her arms in the air. "Matt said she didn't have any pulse. She was dead."

"But she was most likely in an attack. Think about it. Maybe Veronica's brother helped her survive!"

"Look James, I know Ina said that this girl might be alive, but we don't have to trust any shit that she says! Her science experiments won't prove anything to us in the end! Plus, look at the situation! As far as we know from Veronica, her brother was with some children and another guy."

"I'm not leaving them here, knowing that I have another chance. Admit it, Nadia! We had all we needed there! What if they are really Veronica and Matt's siblings?"

"And what if they are not?" Nadia asked, crossing her arms.

"If they aren't, we're gonna get kicked out once again, and maybe take them with us!"

He paused for a few seconds. "You know what? I'm no longer arguing with you. There is no point in this." he turned back to the blonde girl and the black guy. "We're leaving."

Nadia looked at him. "You can't just do this!"

"If you don't want to come with us, you're on your own" James said passing her, and continuing walking with the rest.


	6. Chapter 6

Day 250

The reunion

James got his walkie talkie out, pressing the button and bringing it closer to his mouth.

"James to base camp. Can you copy? Over." he spoke, waiting for an answer.

There were a few seconds of silence, before someone seemed to receive the message.

"Base camp here. What do you want?" Krolia spoke in a tired voice.

"You should get us back in" he said.

"And why would we do that?" Krolia asked in an annoyed voice.

"Because we found something interesting that you might want."

Pidge and Lance looked at each other, furrowing their brows.

"And what exactly did you find?" 

"We can't tell you. It's a surprise" James smirked.

"I swear to motherfucking God James, if this is another one of your shitty excuses to get back in after your failed attempt to get your life in your own hands because of your goddamn stupidness, I won't hesitate to fucking kill you right at the front door." she yelled, as James lowered his hand with the walkie talkie, avoiding to probably be deafed by the woman.

Pidge and Lance looked at each other once again, this time with amused looks on their faces.

James looked back at them, with an advertising look, before turning back to the walkie talkie. "I have some people that you might be interested in" he said on a lower tone.

Krolia stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"I want to talk to you by the front door, and you will leave them right behind the gates." she said, in an advertising voice.

"Yes ma'am" he said, before placing his walkie talkie back by his belt.

The group fell quiet as they were continuously walking. They haven't taken Pidge or Lance's weapons, trusting them to be on their side, at least until they get to the academy. The two were quietly walking beside Ina and Ryan, while Nadia was walking close to James in front of them.

"What's your name?" Ina asked, making Pidge turn to face her.

"Why do you care?" she asked.

"Because I need to know how to call you"

Pidge turned back facing the road, as Ina had an apologetical look on her face.

"Your boyfriend here said that you got stabbed. How did that happen?"

Nadia abruptly turned to face the blonde haired girl. "Ina, for fuck's sake, stop it! Stop those scientiffic experiments, how you call them. The girl you're searching for is dead, and there is literally nothing that you can do about it!"

Ina slightly shook her head, ignoring the girl.

She knew something though.

***

Krolia opened the front door, revealing James.

She crossed her arms, letting her weight on her right hip. "Look who decided to show up. When I thought I was finally going to get rid of you..."

He ignored her, getting to the subject. "As I promised, I found people you might be interested in."

"Did you find the mission target?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"I may think it's him, but I can't but my finger on it yet. He is cuban, brown hair, blue eyes, but I can't say that it's him, and then find out that he's not." he paused for a few seconds. "Should we get Veronica?"

"I'll get Kolivan to balance our solutions. You said that you had 'people'. Is it all?"

James sighted. "No, actually. He was with a girl. Ina thinks she is Matt's sister."

"She is dead" Krolia said, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Matt said she got stabbed in the arm. She was hiding under a car, and when I dragged her out, I held her with my foot, and her arm started bleeding."

"She could have been bleeding because you hit her with the boot. It can happen."

"You don't understand. Her shirt was soaked with blood. And then Ina checked her, and her arm was patched, and her friend said that she got stabbed a while ago. Plus, she looks exactly like Matt!"

Krolia sighted, looking around for a few seconds.

"Look what we're going to do: you blind them up, get them in a room upstairs and lock them there. You tell them to be quiet. You can threaten them, I don't care. Just tell them to not make any noise. Then you get your team and leave this place forever. Got it?"

James nodded. "Fine. Get them all to the meeting, so they won't suspect anything."

James walked off, as Krolia got back inside the academy. "Everyone listen up here" she yelled before the door closed behind her.

James walked to the big gates, pushing them open, revealing the group of teenagers waiting for him.

He took his backpack from his shoulder, and got out the duct tape, throwing it to Ryan. "Blind them up and put this shit over their mouths, make sure they won't make any sound. You come in with me and we're taking them to the first floor."

Ryan looked confused. "What are we going to do after that?"

"Get out asses out of here" came James's answer, before he closed the backpack and threw it back on his shoulder. 

Lance and Pidge didn't try to protest when Ryan glued the duct tape over their mouths, or when Nadia ripped off some sort of fabric, helping Ryan tie it over their eyes.

James got his gun out, putting it against the girl's forehead, as she slightly jumped, trying to get herself away from him. She reached his arms with her hands, before Nadia took them and tied them behind her back.

She tried to scream, obviously not succeeding, as James pressed the gun with more force. 

"If you're not going to be quiet, I swear to God that I am going to kill you. Got it?" James said, pushing her back, so she will walk.

She frantically shook her head, as he led her through the gates, Ryan doing the same thing to Lance, who was already hyperventilating. Ryan and James closed the gate behind theirselves, leading the two inside the building.

They opened the front door, and the hall was quiet. There were voices from inside the conference room, and the door was closed, so there was no chance anybody was going to hear something from the outside. They walked to the end of the hall, and James pushed the door that was leading to the staircase open. They started walking upstairs, to the first floor. They walked all the way down to the end of the hallway, opening the door and throwing the two inside. 

They fell to the ground with a 'thud', and James bended down to their level. He took of their blinds, revealing tears building up in Pidge's eyes, as she was glaring at him. He chuckled, before turning back to Ryan, signaling him that they should leave before the conference was finished. Ryan closed the door, locking it, and throwing the key to the ground, on the outside.

"So Krolia will know where to take it from" Pidge and Lance heard James speak, before their footsteps started estompating, and they eventually disappeared from their hearing area.

Lance dragged himself behing Pidge, with his back against hers, as she understood what he wanted to do. They started untying the rope around each other's hands, eventualy succeeding , and each managed to take the duct tape off their faces.

They looked at each other, knowing that it wasn't going to help at all, because they were locked inside. The weird thing was that they still had all their weapons, which were Lance's shotgun, his regular gun, and Pidge's gun and her knife pocket. Pidge even had the walkie talkie, even though she knew it wasn't going to do anything for them at the moment.

***

"What's the big rush?" Keith asked sitting down on a random chair at the long table.

"Yeah, you just took us all away, someone has to stay there in case of anything" Matt said gesturing with his hand to the door.

"Calm down, nothing will happen. I checked the area before." Krolia said walking to the front of the room, and balancing herself with her hands on the table.

"So did something happen? Why did you need all of us in here?" Veronica asked.

"It's about James and his team."

The people in the room suddently seemed interested in what was going on.

"They tried to come back, but I managed to get them out." she lied.

"When did it happen?" Keith asked.

"A few minutes ago, but I promise they won't come back."

She was fighting with her own mind if whether she should tell them or not about the prisoniers. She decided not to, though, knowing that Matt and Veronica were going to go crazy.

"And how are you so sure that they won't come back?" Kolivan asked.

"I won't let them in anyways"

"So they are going to come back" Shiro said rising an eyebrow.

"Maybe, but this doesn't matter. There are six of us, and they are only four." Matt said, looking to the side.

"He's right" Krolia pointed out. "If they show up, we don't hesitate to kill them."

Veronica furrowed her brows. "But Krolia, they are human too"

"It doesn't matter as long as they want us dead. They're no better than the walkers at this point." Matt said looking straight ahead of him.

The room fell quiet for a few seconds, as everyone basically realized that Matt was right. James couldn't stand Keith since the beginning. He started purposely making wrong plans for the missions in which Keith's family and friends were in, only to make sure Keith had to suffer.

Eventually, after a while, James has taken Ina, Rizavi and Ryan on his side, so he wasn't alone in this whole thing, and he started telling them wrong things just to make sure that they were thinkind the same way that he did. 

He almost took Veronica on his side too, but Matt made her realize that all he's doing is manipulating her. So he continued with the subtle revenge on Keith, making sure that Krolia didn't notice. She noticed though, after a mission where James ran away and left Keith behind.

And here the war started. Krolia would be the only one who would act responsible and not keep with anyone, but soon enough she naturally turned on her son's side.

James was already being cornered, coming to the realization that he depended on the people he hated in order to survive. He knew that Krolia and Kolivan were the reason why they were in that academy, why they had food and running water. 

After the fight that he had with Veronica though, he decided to take his life in his own hands and leave that place. He trusted himself, and if Krolia was able to find a decent building as a shelter, why couldn't he?

And the people left behind had to admit: it was relieving. The group has never been so peaceful before. James should have been gone before, but they didn't lose anyone because of their relationships, so James wasn't to be blamed there for anything. He was simply just breaking the atmosphere in the group.

"So this is it?" Shiro asked sitting up from his chair, as well as everyone. "No offense, but by the urgency in your voice when you announced the meeting I thought something else was going on."

"There is something else..." Krolia sighted, looking at her hands, balancing her on the table.

Shiro had a curious look on his face as he stopped and watched the woman.

"I may have information about Veronica's brother"

Veronica suddently got up from her chair and looked at her.

"Seriously?! Where is he?!"

"I don't have any certain location yet, but I will have someone to take care of it and find more information."

The words hung up in the air, as Veronica looked down.

"I promise we're going to do everything we can to find him, but for now, searching for him here and there is everything that we can do" Krolia reassured her.

"I understand" Veronica smiled slightly, looking at Krolia with glassy eyes.

"Now uh, conference is over." Krolia nodded, before everyone got up. She slightly moved, walking after Kolivan and taking his hand, stopping him.

"Kolivan?" 

The man turned to face her. "Is there something wrong? You seem distracted"

"Just a little bit" she smiled tiredly. "But don't worry, I'll get some rest and I will be fine."

Kolivan nodded still paying attention to her face expression, trying to figure out if she was lying or not.

"Matt?" Krolia asked for the blonde-haired boy, who turned to face her from the doorframe.

She waved him with her hand to come over to where she was.

"What is it?" Matt asked.

Krolia sighted, knowing that talking directly to him was the only way that he wouldn't get too confused.

"I want you and Kolivan to come with me and help me with something." she spoke, after she made sure everyone was out the room.

"Sure thing" Matt said. "What do you want us to help you with?"

Krolia nervously looked around her for a few seconds. 

"An interrogatory" she breathed out.

Matt's brows furrowed, while Kolivan was staring at her with his arms crossed.

"An interrogatory" Matt repeated, not quite understanding what she meant.

"Who do you want to interrogate exactly?" Kolivan asked.

"James had actually other reasons to come back here. He found two survivors, and we may think that one of them is Veronica's brother"

She decided not to mention about the fact that Matt's sister was presumably alive, just not to give him false hope. If his sister was there, he was going to see her and everything was going to end happily. If not, it was still good, because he never had a false hope that she was alive this whole time.

"This is great, but... why do you want me to help you with this? Isn't Veronica supposed to be there?" Matt asked.

"Well yes, but... James said he couldn't put his finger on it. He may or may not be Veronica's brother. I don't want to give her a false hope."

Well that sounded familliar, did it?

"Who is the other survivor though? Is he the boy Veronica mentioned was with them?" Kolivan asked.

"No. It's a girl. James said they were alone." Krolia answered.

Matt nodded. "Where are they?"

"He locked them in a room by the first floor. They still have their weapons though, so we should be really careful."

"That shouldn't be a problem" Matt said taking the shotgun from over his shoulder and holding it aiming the ground.

"You two go there first and I'll find a way inside the training deck and get a gun. You get in and tie them up. The key should be around there, and keep in mind: if they don't attack, that's because they're weak. James said the girl was bleeding."

Matt and Kolivan nodded and left, while Krolia walked to the other way, towards the training deck. 

Oh man, it was either going to be happy, either not.

***

Pidge opened her eyes at the sound of footsteps on the hall. She looked over to Lance, who was passed out on the floor with his back against the wall. She took Lance's shotgun and got up, walking to the door and instinctively holding it aiming the door.

The blood on her flannel shirt has started to feel really uncomfortable, considering that it didn't let the oxygen get through and dry the blood at the surface of the wound. She was aware that she had lost blood again, considering that her first experience was almost deadly, but it wasn't like she could do anything about that.

The footsteps got closer, they stopped, and she heard some whispering from the hall. The door unlocked, as Lance had started to wake up, and the door suddently opened.

There was a male figure walking inside the room, and she couldn't really look at his face, considering that she was basically reaching maybe his neck.

And there they were, shotgun to shotgun. The male's was obviously higher up than hers, but she knew she recognised that shotgun from somewhere.

Matt looked down at the girl, after visually checking the room. There was a tanned, brown-haired boy who got up from his spot on the ground and reached for the girl. 

"Hey, Pidge, let the gun down" he said pushing her hands lower.

The name had hit Matt. His brows instantly furrowed, managing to look down at the girl.

Her hair was dirty blonde, and short, maybe above her shoulders. Her skin was pale, and her cheeks were covered in freckles. She was short and thin. His eyes widened, as he continued staring at her.

She was wearing a green flannel shirt, a white top and jeans, with combat boots. Looking closely at her right arm, the whole sleeve of her flannel shirt was soaked with blood, and it continued dripping down her hand.

She looked up at him, and he noticed her golden eyes.

His sister was there. He wanted to believe it was his immagination, but he couldn't help but wonder if he himself was dead or not. The fact that her arm was bleeding considering that it's been several weeks since it happened was only making things even more confusing.

He watched her eyes widen, as her friend proceeded to convince her let the shotgun down. 

Pidge managed to look up at him, as the image in front of her seemed to slap her with memories. His hair was dirty blonde, just like hers. His eyes were golden. There was a scar on his cheek, and he was tall and skinny, yet still fit.

Everything, starting off with their posture, and finishing with their facial expressions was the same. 

Pidge was alive, and Matt was finally found.

"Matt?"


	7. Chapter 7

Day 250

The first run, the first loss

"So how did you guys find each other?" Krolia asked rising an eyebrow.

Pidge and Lance were both lost in their own worlds. They were worried sick about Hunk and the children. The last attack that they had was during the night, when a hoard of walkers overrun the place they were staying in. They didn't want to think about another eventual attack. Not that Hunk wasn't going to be able to get them out in time, but in the worst case scenario they would be surrounded by walkers on all sides, and they wouldn't have any way to escape the hell.

Lance zoned back in at the sound of Pidge's voice. "Him, Hunk and the children were passing by the school and they helped me."

Everyone was scattered outside around the campfire, just for more safety after James and his team left. Not that they were protecting the building before, the group was just afraid James was going to come back and take over the place.

"If Hunk wouldn't have been there though, Pidge would have been dead by now." Lance said trying to slip back into the conversation.

"He was in med school before it all started, he knows a ton of things about medicine" Lance continued.

"So there are more of you? How many were you out there?" Krolia asked

"There was me, my best friend and my nephews, Sylvio and Nadia." Lance answered.

Krolia's face seemed relieved for a moment. She knew from Veronica the initial group, but she was afraid that they rescued more people, like they did with Pidge.

Silence filled the air for a few seconds, before Lance broke it.

"So are we going to get them in?"

Krolia sighted. "Yes"

Keith's expression turned from a neutral one to utter dispair in a matter of seconds.

"What?" he chocked, looking over to his mother.

Krolia looked to the ground. "We need to do that, Keith. They need us."

Keith furrowed his brows. "And how are you going to get them?"

"I'll send two people." Krolia answered looking her son in the eyes.

"Oh, so you're losing two people to save three more injuried?" Keith snapped.

"Keith..." Shiro said placing a hand on his shoulder.

"No, Shiro! I don't want to hear it!" he said before turning back to the group. "Look guys, we just lost four fighters for two injuried! If we risk like this again, we are going to end up with a group of injuried and being eaten alive by the walkers! I understand that they are your family, but we need to think our moves!"

Matt furrowed his brows. "Keith, I don't think you understand the family part. If you did, we wouldn't have been arguing now about whether we should keep Lance and Katie or kick them out."

"I never said to kick them out." Keith defended himself.

"Guys, stop arguing" Shiro snapped, and the group fell quiet.

"We're not gonna get anywhere by doing this, do you understand?" he asked. "First off Keith, James didn't leave to bring Matt's and Veronica's siblings. He left because he couldn't stay here anymore, and we understood his choice, and he realized that he couldn't keep Lance and Katie once he found them, so he decided to give them a chance and bring them here. He didn't have any plan to stay here in the first place."

Shiro's sentence was followed by a deadly silence once again.

"You know, we can leave" Pidge said quietly, looking at Krolia, whos eyes were glowing due the fire.

Krolia was already losing her shit. "So where are you going to go then? Are you going to leave your brother again after finding him alive? God, why can't you people stop being so selfish? You have no idea what he's been through ever since I found him because of you!"

"I'm not being selfish" Pidge said calmly. "I just understand the situation. If you don't need us, we can leave and find Hunk and the children. As much as I want to stay close to Matt now that I found him, I know it won't last forever. So if we leave, him and Veronica have two choices: they either stay here and Lance and I will be fine knowing that they're alive, or they come with us."

Matt and Veronica were intensely thinking. Keith slightly shook his head, looking at Pidge.

"You've got so many things to learn. With your thinking, you won't make it too far into this war.."

"And why exactly do I have things to learn?" she snapped. "If there is anyone here who has to learn something, that person is you."

Keith rised an eyebrow, as she continued. "Your family is still alive, and all you're doing is maybe kill some walkers every day, not worrying that you might lose them because you are safe in here. My parents got infected and were shot in the head by the doctors through the first ones. That was six months ago. My brother is the only thing I have left, and trust me, we lived in hell out there." she said pointing to the big gates. "So now that I found him, if I have to leave in order to protect him, I am willing to do that."

Keith let his head down, as Pidge glared at him, also looking at the ground after a few seconds.

Silence filled the air yet once again through the heated atmosphere.

"And you?" Krolia asked pointing to Lance. "Your best friend is more important than your sister?"

Lance has been staring at the ground the whole time. He sighted and looked up at the angry woman. "No, but I can't stay here safe, knowing that some children are out there starving."

"Ok so let me get this straight: a war isn't made for children." Keith said looking back up.

"Mullet, you're already starting to annoy me" Lance said giving him a tired look.

Keith just sighted, crossing his arms.

"I understand" Lance said. "If we want to have a powerful team, we can't have injuried, old people or children. You guys are the ones who don't understand, because I promised my brother I was going to take care of his children with my life six months ago, and then this morning I promised Hunk I was going to come back with food, and now they're starving, risking to get attacked by walkers any minute. I'm worried sick about them, and I know they need me more than my sister does right now."

"You people need to stop this whole thing" Kolivan said sitting up and looking at each one of them. "What you're doing now is talking nonsense. Nobody will leave this group. Tomorrow morning Keith is going to leave with Katie, and they are going to bring Hunk and the children here."

Keith and Pidge seemed confused.

"Why Katie?" Shiro asked. "She's injuried, and most likely not able to handle weapons. I can go with Keith if he wants me to."

"The only ones who know Hunk's location are Lance and Katie. Broken ribs in a fight are the worst, and I'm saying that out of personal experience." Kolivan said. "Katie's stitches should be fine, but if you want to, you can go with them Shiro. We will have Matt and Veronica here to cover."

Shiro nodded. "Alright then. We're leaving with the sunrise. Is that alright with you two?" he looked over to Keith and Pidge.

Pidge sent Keith a glare, before looking at Shiro and nodding.

Day 251

"Hey Lance?" Pidge called after the cuban boy.

He stopped walking and turned to look at the brown haired girl. He stuffed his hands into his pockets waiting for her to catch up.

The sun was setting up, and the morning air was fresh. Lance loved it.

He rised his eyebrows.

She stopped in front of him, bending down to catch her breath. "I had to run all the way here to catch your long ass legs"

Lance smiled slightly. "What is it though? Aren't you supposed to be leaving?"

His expression turned serious when he noticed her almost pained face.

After a few seconds of silence, she looked up at him. "Look, we're safe, we have food and water, we're fine... even though we could have been better, but still. All we need is to find Hunk and the children and everything is going to be okay..."

He furrowed his brows. "I mean, yeah. We haven't been this good ever since this shit started, and you can admit it too."

Pidge nodded. "Yeah, but that's not the point."

"What is it then?"

"So I'm going with the mullet boy and his brother to find Hunk, Nadia and Sylvio. I know the location, I have it marked on my map, but I still have doubts about the mission.."

"You know I can go if you don't feel like you can" Lance said, as Pidge shook her head.

"No, it's not about this. I'm fine, I can do this, it's just that I have doubts about the mission itself, and I just want to make everything clear to you too before going out there."

"Okay then. Go on"

The girl sighted. "So, ever since you guys rescued me, I grew close to you. I owe you guys my life, and I love you, Hunk and the children as if you are my family. But as much as I love you guys, I have to tell you this. We need to consider this situation too."

"Pidge, you're scaring me. What is it?"

"I really hope you will understand this, but I thought about it and... there is a chance that we won't find them. Not alive, or not at all."

Lance looked at the building behind Pidge. "I decided to refuse that it can happen. I know that it can be true though..."

He paused for a few seconds, trying to suck in tears. "But yesterday morning when we left I had this hope that we were going to return with food and water, make Nadia and Sylvio happy. And then we were going to claim a building with running water and a bed to sleep in and just... live life again..."

"And you know, now that I found Veronica, and this place, I want so bad to bring them here, just so they can feel like human beings again... But I realize that I had to choose in between my best friend and nephews and my sister..."

Pidge looked down. "I'm sorry"

"I just feel like I keep failing everything... I'm disappointing everyone around me. Nadia and Sylvio, Hunk..."

"Who said you're disappointing them?" Pidge asked looking into his eyes filled with tears. "Lance, you are a great leader. Without you, not only me, but Hunk and the children too would have been dead by now. You are trying too hard. Nadia and Sylvio are fine, and even if they weren't, there was literally nothing humanly possible that you could do. I promise I'm going to do my best to find them and bring them back untouched."

She pulled Lance into a hug, as he rubbed his eyes before returning it.

"If they're, you know..." Lance said, and he felt Pidge nodding in his chest before pulling herself away. "Don't bring them here. It will only put the team in danger"

She nodded.

"I trust you Pidgeon" he said slightly patting her back.

She scrunched her nose. "I told you I hate it when you call me this..."

Lance smiled slightly. "Sure"

He wiped his tears off his cheeks with his jacket sleeves before glancing over to her one more time.

Pidge left, and Lance could see that she reached the small group in front of the big gates, caught the backpack that Keith had passed to her, and waited for Shiro to open the gates.

The trio left, and Krolia closed the gates behind them.

Lance sighted.

Krolia approached him. "What are you doing up so early? Couldn't sleep?"

Lance smiled sadly before shaking his head. "I wanted to take a walk. I love to watch the sun setting up."

He met the older woman's gaze, as she instantly furrowed her eyebrows.

"Have you been crying? I didn't know you were so close to Matt's sister."

"I'm not, really" he smiled slightly. "It's just that... after this mission I am either going to be happy with my friends and sister, or I am going to be left alone with Veronica, and eventually Pidge and your sons."

"We sent them out there because we believe in them."

They heard the sound of a door slammed shut, and the engine of one of their cars turning on.

"As their mother, don't you have any doubt?" Lance asked.

"After seeing all they've done in this war in the past six months?" she snorted. "Absolutely none."

She paused for a few seconds.

"You know, at this point, if you're strong, you stay. If you're weak, you go to a better place" she said glancing over to the pale sun. "When my son said that children can't be in this war, he wasn't totally wrong."

Lance furrowed his brows looking at her, ready to snap at her.

"Talking about children in general, they don't make it too far, for multiple reasons. Before this started, I was an international spy. I've seen many things, and the only reason why my family is alive is because I had more informations than average people. I used that information to protect my sons and... Workmate..." she looked to the side and blushed. "and keep them safe. You people had zero information. God, you're just a bunch of confused children... So this is why I'm surprised you and your nephews made it this far."

"So you're saying that my nephews shouldn't be alive?" Lance asked deciding to keep his calm. He still had his doubts about this woman. Sure, she rescued them, and she had his sister, but for Lance, Krolia still seemed a little off.

"I'm saying that children don't usually make it in this kind of conditions, and it's surprising how you made it this far with them."

Lance was sitting there, with his arms crossed and teary eyes, almost pouting. He looked like a little child.

Krolia smiled, patting his arm. "Wipe your tears and come inside. You can have a coffee if you want."

He nodded. "I'll come in a few minutes."

The woman had an understanding look that only a mother could have. She left and Lance followed her with his eyes until she entered the building. He then turned to the sun and sighted, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Lance didn't quite know what was going on with him. He's never been emotional until then. Sure enough, he lost his parents and siblings when he needed them the most, and then he lost Veronica, and now he found Veronica but he lost Hunk and the children. And still. He's never showed emotions that much.

***

When they reached the old building, no one had to say anything. Pidge bolted right towards the big metal doors, and Keith and Shiro didn't need any explanation. Keith slowly got his shotgun out and pointed it towards the doors, following Pidge inside.

"Hunk?" She yelled cautiously walking further inside. "Sylvio, Nadia!"

Shiro was the last one to get inside, as Pidge got her gun out too, aiming and checking around the area.

"Keep in mind, they might as well not be here" Keith said getting closer to her. "They might be... dangerous..."

"I know" she said.

Keith looked at her and furrowed his eyebrows on her unsure expression. According to her brother, she was extremely sassy and bossy, and Keith could guess it was only around Matt. He did that to Shiro too.

But now, seeing her like this, he couldn't help but think at the argument that they had last night. Maybe she was right.

"Stand back" Keith said pushing her behind him, and continuing walking through the building. He couldn't see Shiro's face, but he sure enough had a smug look despite the situation.

They walked around the corner, where Keith stopped suddently. Pidge bumped into him, looking then ahead of her. Her jaw dropped at the sight of two small bodies laying on the cold concrete, in puddles of blood.

"No..." she muttered pushing Keith out of her way and hurrying to the children. 

"Pidge, don't!" Keith yelled after her, trying to hold her back.

She reached the children and bended down next to Nadia. She tried to shake her shoulders, but the small girl didn't react. The same happened with Sylvio, while Shiro and Keith were looking at her with blank expressions.

"This can't be happenning... " she said rubbing her face with her hands.

"Hey, we will need to put them down..." Shiro sighted.

Pidge looked at Shiro, and then at the children, and shook her head.

"We can't do that" she said quietly, turning away from the boys. "They're children..."

"By putting them down we will at least help stopping the spreading..." Keith said.

"We don't stop the spreading by killing two children, Keith! The walkers are still out there, we don't do anything by killing them!"

"If you don't want to see them in the next hoard, we will need to put them down." Shiro said.

The sound of a groan interrupted them, and the trio went dead quiet for a few seconds. 

"Someone help me please..." a weak, male voice spoke up.

Pidge got up and ran towards the shed. She banged on the door. "Hunk! Are you in there?!"

"Help me please... I'm going to die"


	8. Chapter 8

Day 251

Buried

"So what have you guys been doing in the past... two months?" Matt asked looking at the tall cuban boy.

Lance fidgeted with the walkie talkie in his hands before looking up at the blonde haired boy. 

"Well, we spent a few days in that school. We had running water and food, and a floor to sleep on, basically everything we wanted. But then it got overrun by the biggest hoard I've ever seen. We burnt down the place and left."

He gazed over to the window and then snorted. "Man, Pidge refused any kind of help even though she had an 105 degree fever throughout the whole time until the infection was treated."

Matt huffed. "I don't know where she took that from. I've never seen someone so stubborn."

Lance smiled softly. "What happened here though? How did you guys find my sister?"

"When the Kogane brothers rescued me she was already here, but I've heard that they found her a while ago with that group that took you and Pidge here" Matt said. "Actually, James's team rescued her first. Then, Krolia, her sons, and her... friend,... who were already inside the academy, welcomed them in. It turned out that James didn't have the best relationship with Keith, and they were always arguing, James even put Keith's life in danger a couple of times on purpose."

"James was doing that for no reason actually, I've seen the way he's bossing around even with his team." Lance said.

"Yeah, Veronica was on their side at first, but then after I came in here I tried to convince her that James was a bad guy. She wanted to go out there alone and search for you and your team, and James noticed and started talking about leaving. We convinced her that we were following your tracks even though we had absolutely no idea where you were supposed to be. All we were doing was trying to keep her safe. And then yesterday they finally left, and you and Pidge showed up. What a small world, isn't it?" Matt said leaning on the backrest of the chair.

"Yeah... the chances for me and Pidge to find you and Veronica at the same time were low" Lance admitted. 

After a few seconds of silence, Lance spoke up. "How did you live before you got lost? I mean, how did it all start for you?"

Matt threw the walkie talkie he was holding on the table, leaning back in his chair, keeping his balance by holding the table with his hand.

"I was admitted into Harvard with the highest grade in the promotion. My sister had one year left, but at the time I didn't have a single doubt about her getting in. It was so simple, you know? Who could've thought about a pandemic that would lead to the end of the world? Now, looking back, I wish I would have spent more time with my parents as long as I could still do that... They were always at work, I don't remember having a single day for the family."

"Where did your parents work at?" Lance asked, being caught in the story.

"They were both working for the Garrison" Matt said gesturing to the big logo on the wall behind himself. "My mom was a doctor, and my dad was a commander. They were busy people."

"But you were rich" Lance said.

Matt snorted. "Fuck off. I'd rather give up on all the money and technology that we had for an actual family. Pidge and I could rip each other's guts out and mom and dad would facetime us and tell us to try and understand each other. It's always been this way."

"You didn't deny that you were rich." the cuban boy smirked.

"We weren't rich..." Matt sighted. "We lived in a normal house, the only upgrade was the technology that my father brought all around it. Dad's projects were so expensive that it left us to an actual middle class"

"I was saying that only because you don't look like a rich kid." Lance laughed. "You look more like the crackhead in every friend group, you know? I never imagined you with a lot of money. Not even Pidge. I mean, she's basically half male."

Matt laughed. "The circumstances made it for her to hate girly things."

"That is a good serve in the war if you think so" Lance said rising an eyebrow, smiling. "But still, go on with the story, you got me boiling here."

Matt's face turned serious, glancing around the room. "Well, our dad was at a press conference in China when it all happened. We haven't gotten any sign from him, but we just assumed he was busy. It happened pretty often after all... A few days later, when the conference was over, they found him dead in his hotel room. Not really dead, you know..."

"Yeah..." Lance said.

"We were in shock. It's not like we weren't expecting it, our family had been exposed to a pretty high risk of getting infected ever since the pandemy started, but we just hoped it would never happen I guess... And then one day mom got attacked by a patient and she got infected too" he looked down. "They had to put her down..."

Lance was looking at him with a concerned look as Matt continued. "Suddently switching from ripping each other's guts to depending on each other to survive was a tough lesson."

"Veronica and I have been in the same situation. Just that she was the oldest and she was bossing us around."

Matt smiled softly. 

"So when she got lost, we were desperate. We didn't even know what to do without her. Hunk and I managed to redirect ourselves, but Nadia and Sylvio seemed numb. It was clearly that they missed the feminine appeareance. After we found Pidge and she got better, they only seemed a little better, but they still needed Veronica back. I would have gone to the moon and back to find her and see them happy again. I just hope that Shiro, Keith and Pidge are going to get all three of them back alive and untouched.

"I don't personally know this 'Hunk' guy, but as far as you guys talked about him, he seems strong. If he made it this far into this war, I'm sure he's alright after 24 hours with the children. He has medical knowledge, and 24 hours without food won't kill him." Matt said trying to encourage the cuban boy.

"I just hope you're right..."

***

The sound of two shotguns rang through the air, followed by a deadly silence.

The brown haired girl exited the building, wiping off the blood from her hands on her pants.

Keith closed shut the back door of the van, before walking to the front of the car and occupying his seat.

The engine turned on, as the girl got in the last, and shut the door closed.

Pidge looked into the back through the bars, as she turned back, sighted, and looked at the ceiling. "What is Lance going to say?"

"He knew it could happen" Keith said immediately. "It's just... an unfortunate event."

***

Matt and Lance looked up at the window inside the office they were sitting, facing the front gates. They heard the sound of the engine, and they saw the white van pull into the driveway. The boys immediately rushed outside the building, to the gates.

Pidge was closing the gates before any walker could get in, as Keith and Shiro seemed in a rush to open the back doors. 

"Go get Krolia" she said as Matt nodded and left. 

Lance sprinted to the van, as Pidge got into his way and stopped him. 

"Where are they? Are they alright?!" he asked frantically as the girl looked down.

"Lance, don't. I'm sorry."

He furrowed his brows as his eyes widened, looking down at her.

"What?"

Then he looked over to Keith and Shiro, who were struggling to get Hunk out of the van. He was unconscious, blood all over his face and clothes. Krolia and Matt were running out of the academy, and suddently Lance's knees felt weak.

Pidge finally got out of his way, as he ran to the van, and looked inside. 

"No, this can't be-" he turned back to Pidge. "Where are they? They have to be here right?" 

Pidge shook her head, still staring at the ground.

Lance noticed the blood on her clothes as he looked at the people rushing Hunk inside the academy, and then back at her.

"He was the only one clean was he?" he finally asked.

The girl nodded.

"No..." 

***

"Hey Lance?" Pidge asked as the cuban boy walked past her through the hallway.

"Hm?" He stopped and looked at her.

"Were you in the infirmary with them? How is he?" she asked.

"Well, as far as Krolia said, he's in a bad state, but still, he's going to get better." he smiled sadly. "We're really lucky that we have the academy. Otherwise we would've had to run away from the walkers with him. He can at least have a smooth recovery."

Pidge tried to smile. "I'm glad"

They fell silent for a few moments.

"But who could've thought that it was going to happen?" she asked more for herself.

Lance looked around nervously. "Did you at least... You know... Make sure they won't turn?"

The girl sighted and looked at the wall behind Lance. "I did."

Lance looked at the ground. "We should have taken them with us in the first place, and none of this would have happened... "

"Lance... I'm not going to argue with you on this because I know you're right. If we would have taken them with us they would have been safe, and we all would have been here now." she sighted. "But they deserve better. They deserve to be up there with their parents and family than to be in this fucked up world. I understand the promise you made to your brother on his death bed, but I think that now we both can agree that they were only suffering here."

Lance looked the girl in her eyes, who immediately noticed the tears sparkling in his eyes.

"I just wanted them to be with Veronica one more time... "

"I know... It's okay..."

***

Pidge looked up at the door which was opening, and Matt poking his head inside the room.

"How is he?" the boy asked, entering the room and sitting on a random chair.

The girl, who was sitting on the edge of the samoan boy's bed, sighted and looked at him.

"Krolia says he's going to be fine. Although, he's in a pretty bad shape. Internal bleeding, head injuries, and his eye... It's not there anymore..."

Matt furrowed his brows. "What even happened to them out there?" he asked more for himself. 

"They were attacked for sure, but I can't explain to myself why they didn't run. They were just... There" she said.

"Maybe they got surrounded." Matt said. "But how did you.. You know, find the children?"

"Unconscious. Probably in the coma phase. I couldn't do anything for them."

She looked up at him. "Though, how is Lance? ."

"I sat with him this whole time. He cried himself to sleep."

Pidge sighted again. "And this is how a regular mission can go downhill."

She paused for a few moments. "Like it did a month ago"

Her brother nodded, zoned out.

They fell in a comfortable silence.

"I'm so glad we finally found a long-term place. We can live in here for at least a year. And we still have plans for the future." Matt said.

Pidge rised an eyebrow. "What plans?"

"Well, Krolia found a mall nearby, and she's thinking of splitting us in two. That would make the food and water last longer on both sides. But of course, until then... We will have to go on scouting missions until you, Lance and Hunk get better."

***

The samoan boy looked around the room, worry across his features. He tried to get up, only to be stopped by Lance, who pushed him back down.

"It's okay buddy, you're safe."

"Lance!" he exclaimed, as the cuban boy leaned in for a hug.

"I'm here bud" Lance whispered. "I'm so glad you're alive."

They broke the hug, as Hunk got up in his bed and looked around the room.

"Where are we? Did you find another base? And are the children alright? Where is Pidge?"

Lance looked down. "No, buddy. I'm sorry. We didn't find any base. Pidge is fine, she's actually somewhere around here, but there is a lot of explaining..."

He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Me and her got captured, and we were brought here yesterday. Turns out her brother and Veronica are here too."

Hunk's face seemed to lit up. "Wait, really? That's so awesome!" he laughed.

Lance smiled softly. "I know, right?"

His smile faded. "But do you remember what happened with you guys at the base?"

Hunk furrowed his brows. "I don't. Also, what is wrong with my eye? I'm not sure I can feel it."

"You guys got attacked. Nadia and Sylvio were bit." Lance said slowly.

Hunk's face turned pale. "No... no... Lance you've got to be kidding me!"

"I'm not joking, Hunk... I wouldn't be joking about something like this..." Lance sighted.

They both turned towards the door which was opening, Pidge entering the room with a plate with what seemed like some kind of porridge and a spoon on the side.

She didn't look up. "Lance, you need to eat something. You haven't eaten all day."

She closed the door shut and turned facing the two boys, when she gasped, left the plate on the closest table, and sprinted to hug the samoan boy.

"Holy shit Hunk, never scare us like this again" she said, as the boys stood silent. She let go of her friend and looked up, only to see both of them. silently crying.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked taking the closest chair, placing it right beside the bed and taking a seat.

"She was the one there..." Lance sighted.

Hunk looked at Lance, and then at Pidge.

"Is it true?" he asked.

"What?" she asked furrowing her brows.

"About Nadia and Sylvio..." Lance said. "He wants to know if it's... true... that they didn't make it..."

The girl looked down. "I had to put them down. There was nothing else left to do."

Hunk turned away from her and looked at the ceiling. "No..."

"I'm sorry" Pidge said, feeling tears well into her eyes as well. "But you would have done it as well"

"It's okay." Lance said. "I would have"

Hunk sighted and turned back at them. "What happened to my eye? Did I get infected?"

"No. Shiro, he was in the military for a few years and he has some medical knowledge. He analyzed it, and you seemed to be stabbed. He said that you couldn't see anymore anyways, so he decided it would be better if he pulled it out to avoid any infection." Lance explained.

Hunk seemed really agitated.

"Are you okay?" Pidge asked furrowing her brows. "Look, it's a hard situation, but we will have to push through."

"They can't be dead" Hunk said ignoring Pidge. "No, this has to be a joke!" he turned facing Lance. "Tell me you're joking!"

Lance finally snapped. "Hunk, do you think I would be joking about my nephew's death?! You guys were attacked, while Pidge and I were hurt and we couldn't get there sooner. I know, it's all on us. For fuck's sake, we shouldn't even have left without you guys in the first place! But you know what? It was meant to happen, because now they're up there with their parents! It took me a lot to realize too, but it's the truth! "

After a few seconds of silence, Pidge decided to speak. "When I got there, the whole building was filled with corpses and blood. Nadia and Sylvio were unconscious, with visible bites, and then there were you, begging for help. I told Shiro and Keith to get you into the van while I was... eliminating them. And you know, it took a while to do it, holding the gun against their heads, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do. So I just pushed the trigger."

Hunk was looking at her with tears rolling down his cheeks, while Lance seemed zoned out.

" And immediately after it came the regret. Even though I knew I saved them from turning, I still did that by killing them" her voice cracked. "All I wanted to say was that I think they're doing better right now. It was an unfortunate incident." she said remembering Keith's words. "It could have happened anytime, to anyone, and I believe that it was meant to happen, because Nadia and Sylvio obviously deserve better than living in this fucked up world."


	9. Chapter 9

Day 252

Finally a good thing

Matt scrunched his nose. "Last time I was here, I didn't end up quite good"

Veronica rised an eyebrow. "Is this the place from where Shiro and Keith saved you?"

"Pretty much" he said. "You guys should keep your guns out, there are a ton shit of walkers around here."

They approached a crossroad, as Shiro walked in front, poking his head over the corner of a building, and looked around for any walker.

He looked back at his team. "It's clear"

"So anyways, what are we actually doing here?" Keith asked uncomfortably switching his backpack on his left shoulder.

"We're just making runs like we usually do." Matt said.

"So are we searching for survivors or something?"

"If we find survivors..." Veronica corrected him.

"We don't quite have chances to find survivors, but if we do, and they need help, we can take them with us." Shiro said.

"So just let me get this straight: before Matt's sister and her group showed up, y'all were saying that there are too many people in the team, and that we couldn't afford getting anymore people in, and now we're literally going on runs to find survivors?" he asked with a tint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Okay, first off, it wasn't Matt's sister who showed up and changed our lives, so stop being so dramatic about it" Shiro said. "But when James's group left, we were left without four people."

"What's your point?" Keith asked. "They were basically replaced by Pidge's team. Do you guys really want to find another person so we can have the same number of people as before?"

Veronica snorted. "Keith, what the fuck?"

"Keith, I'm convinced that you will understand the situation later. We need more people because more people means more fighters." Shiro said.

"What even is wrong with you, people?" Keith asked obviously. "Who made you change your mind like this?"

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"You guys have a plan, and I know it."

"You know the plan?" Shiro asked.

"No. I know that you guys are hiding something. You all seem to know something I don't, which surprises me considering that Krolia, my mother, was the one who presumably made the plan." he paused and sighted. "Look, all I want is to know too. Even though it is something I might not like"

"So now you've gone soft?" Matt asked with a smirk.

"Don't do that" Keith advertised. "I'm the one who saved your ass"

"I'm literally older than you" Matt said.

"You still owe me your life though" Keith shrugged.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Jesus Christ, not again..."

***

"Have you seen the mullet's parents?" Lance asked poking his head inside the main room.

Pidge snorted, placing down the book she was currently reading. "I'm pretty sure they're not both his parents, but no, I haven't seen them"

"Is Kolivan not mullet's father?" Lance asked.

"As far as Matt told me, he's just his mother's boyfriend." Pidge said. "Though, why did you ask about them?"

"Because they aren't in the academy, or anywhere behind the big gates, and Hunk doesn't feel quite well. He told me what kind of medicine he needs, but I don't know where they keep it."

Pidge furrowed her brows. "Well, that's weird."

She got up from the bed she was sitting on and walked to the window. "Are all the cars in the parking lot?"

"I didn't check, but they could have just left by feet." Lance said.

"I don't think so. They wouldn't just leave without telling us, right?"

"I don't know. They might as well just be upstairs."

Pidge sighted. "Alright. You go check upstairs, I'll go outside."

Lance nodded as both of them walked out the room.

Pidge walked to the front door, opening it and exiting the academy. She walked down the few steps at the entrance, and into the ankle-lenght grass.

She didn't get to make a few steps, as she suddently stopped in her tracks at the sound of banging into the main gate, which, by the way, wasn't quite see-through.

She furrowed her brows as she continued walking towards the gates. She searched for her gun, cursing when she realized that she left it inside.

When she got to the gates, she stopped for a few seconds, a little hesitant. The banging suddently started again.

"Lance, I swear to motherfucking god, if that's you trying to put another stupid prank on me, I'm going to kill you as soon as I put my hands on that fucking gun" she mumbled more for herself.

The banging stopped, as whoever was behind the gates stood quiet. It couldn't be walkers. The walkers weren't that fast. They always made slow moves, but they had an unimaginable strenght.

So it only meant it was either animals, either people. And if there were people, it could only be survivors.

She finally decided to open the gates. She bended down to search for the key in the grass right beside the gate, which was their usual hiding spot. Once she got the key, she got back up, took off the lock and opened the gate.

Before she knew it, she was being pinned down by a stranger, with a knife pressing onto her neck.

Right on top of her there was a girl with dark skin, bright blue eyes and silver hair. She seemed to be glaring daggers into her soul.

Pidge tried to fight her, but the girl didn't seem to give in. She was obvioulsy way stronger than her. "Who are you?! Are you alone in here?!"

She had a british accent, and right behing her there was a blonde girl, holding a gun towards her.

"Answer me!" the black girl yelled.

Pidge put all her strenght into pushing the girl's arm with the knife off her neck. "Maybe if you get off of me!"

The girl growled, slowly getting off, but still not letting Pidge move to some point. She got up on her elbows, and brushed off the small amount of blood on her neck with her thumb.

The blonde girl approached them, bending down, charging the gun and pointing it towards her. "You tell us, or I kill you right away. I don't care if you're not infected."

"I don't have anything to tell you, but just so you know, I opened the gate because I thought I was maybe going to give a chance to a bunch of. survivors." then she noticed Krolia in the corner of her eye appearing from behind the gates, pointing her gun towards the back of the blonde girl's head. "You can fight me, but keep in mind that I live in here with eight more people."

The girls fell quiet, as they looked at each other. Krolia managed to approach the blonde girl to the point where she knocked off the gun off her hands, then yanking the other girl off of Pidge.

Pidge took the oportunity and got up, grabbing the blonde girl's gun from the ground and pointing it towards her.

Now both Krolia and Pidge were watching the two girls sitting on the ground, on their butts. They knew they fucked up.

A car could be heard pulling up into the driveway, as the doors were slammed shut, and Shiro was getting in through the opened gates, followed by the rest of the team.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Veronica asked approaching the girls who were now getting up.

"Oh look, It's the survivors you were searching for" Keith said jokingly hitting his brother's side with his elbow.

"Keith, that's not funny" Veronica said.

"Who are them?" Matt asked, turning to Krolia.

"We don't know them. They just showed up" Krolia said.

"And you just let them in like this?" Shiro asked dumbfounded, looking towards his mother.

"I didn't know, okay?" Pidge said brushing the grass off of her.

"It doesn't matter right now, you just wanted to help them" Krolia said. "Keith, Shiro, get them in and interrogate them. Make sure to blindfold them."

She paused for a few seconds, turning towards the girls. "Is there anything I should know about you? Are you injuried, infected? Do you have any medical condition?"

The girls seemed to hesitate for a moment, before they looked at each other and the black girl finally decided to speak. "I- I think I might be pregnant..."

Krolia sighted, turning around so the girls won't see her reaction. "Great now" she mumbled. She turned back to the girls. "No problem. You'll take a test and you'll see."

As Shiro left with the girls, Keith and Pidge immediately behind them, but far enough for them to not hear the two talking.

"Hey Keith?" Pidge asked.

"Hm?"

"Do you know by some chance where you guys keep the medicine? Like the pills and everything else?" she asked.

"Yes, I do." Keith said. "But why do you ask?" as he analyzed her closer, he noticed her neck. "Is that blood on your neck? Is this the reason why you're asking me about the medicine?"

"No no, I'm fine. It's just a little bit of blood." she reassured him. "It's for Hunk. He didn't feel quite good while you guys were gone. He knows what he needs, but Lance and I just had no idea where it was."

Keith sighted. "Alright. I'm coming right now. I can go to the interrogatory later."

Pidge smiled. "Thank you"

***

The interrogatory went well, and it turned out that the girls were lost from their group. They used to live in an abandoned hotel with the blonde girl's little brother and their uncle, because apparently the girls were cousins.

They went under the names of Allura and Romelle, and after Keith talked to his mother, she decided to introduce them to their new family.

"Promising them that we're going to find the other two people is a little bit too much, don't you guys think?" Matt asked quietly, sitting down at the table in the conference room.

"It's not impossible though" Veronica said leaning with her hands on the back of his chair.

"I don't really trust them" he said glancing over through the opened door into the hallway, where Shiro was showing Allura and Romelle around.

"I don't either. I mean, they tried to take over the place by threatening the first person who showed up in their way with death." Keith said.

"And the one with white hair is pregnant..." Matt rolled his eyes.

"Well, she's probably only in her first month. Plus, we have Hunk to take care of her." Veronica said.

Keith got bored of the subject, so he got up from his seat right across Matt and left the room. "Well, the decision is not up to me anyways. I'm going to get some sleep. Today it's honestly just been too much."

Matt and Veronica ignored him. "You don't get it. If she's pregnant, Krolia won't be able to do her plan. Why do you think she reacted that way when she saw the test turn positive?" Matt whisper-yelled.

"And what's the problem with Allura being pregnant?" Veronica asked furrowing her brows. "As long as Hunk and Shiro are going to be on the same side with her, nothing can happen."

"Yeah, but it will be harder to manage. You know, a pregnant woman has... needs"

Veronica leaned down to face the blonde haired boy. "Matt, you're already being stupid. Just admit that you don't like them! It's not like I do!"

Matt turned to face the girl. "They would have killed Lance and Pidge only to take over the place, even knowing that they weren't infected when they could have just asked for help! Does that make you feel safer knowing that you sleep right next to them and they can kill you anytime?"

"Matt, I'm a latina. If you think I get scared by a bitch who can fight after all the shit I've been through, you're just stupid." she said getting ready to argue.

"Look Veronica, I never doubted your fighting skills, and I'm kinda scared to do it now, but it's not only about you. It's about the older and the injuried. Krolia and Kolivan would be vulnerable in a possible attack, as well as Hunk"

"And what do you want to do about that?" Veronica asked already getting pissed off. "They already got them in, it's not like we can kick them out and after that we will be like: we saved the world, don't blame us"

"No, Veronica. Come on, be real for a second!" Matt said. "Let's come up with something more clever!"

"And what would that be?" Veronica asked getting away from the chair and placing a hand on her hip.

Matt got up and leaned back on the table. "Let's tell the ones who are making shifts to keep an eye on them."

"That would seem suspicious" Veronica rolled her eyes.

"So we just won't tell anyone? I'm pretty sure they all figured out already." Matt said.

"Alright then. Who exactly are the ones taking shifts?" Veronica asked.

"Well, there are Pidge and Lance switching up every night to stay with Hunk, or at least just sleep in the infirmary to keep an eye on him."

"Who was the one who made the shifts, again? Don't tell me it was you guys"

"It was Krolia, actually" Matt said rising an eyebrow. "She did it because they won't be able to fight in an eventual attack, like they did today. They're still... not quite in shape."

Veronica snorted. "Yeah. Say that to your sister, and she's going to disown you"

"But it's the truth! Lance has broken ribs, for fuck's sake Veronica, he can't breathe properly. Imagine if that happened in a fight. And Pidge's arm isn't healed yet. She pretends that she's fine, but she can't even pick up a gun."

"Fine. Who does the shifts around the academy?"

"Shiro and Keith. They usually switch every two or three hours." Matt answered.

"Keith already seems suspicious of them. He's probably going to check inside too." Veronica said thoughtfully.

"I wake up every once in a while anyways. I mean, I can just look around to make sure everything is okay. And they won't get to the infirmary unnoticed, where Hunk and either Lance or Pidge will be. The lights are always turned on, and the door is facing the main entrance. It won't go unnoticed from the outside."

"Fine then. It means everything is solved." she paused for a few seconds. "Even though I might think they deserve a chance. Maybe they're not bad at all and we're just worrying about them for no reason."

***

Pidge sighted and got up from the chair she fell asleep on inside the infirmary. She glanced over to Hunk, who was peacefully sleeping, and then at the clock up on the wall that was showing her that it was a little bit past 2 AM.

She walked to the door and exited the infirmary. Once she got to the hallway, she looked over to the main room, where everyone was sleeping, from where you could hear some faint snores, and then to another room down the hallway that seemed to have a source of light inside.

She rubbed her eyes before heading into that direction. When she reached the entrance, she realized it was the computer room. The computer was turned on, and the black-haired woman was sitting down at the desk, seeming very interested of what she saw on the computer.

"Krolia, what are you doing up so late?" she asked walking into the office and sitting down on a chair next to the woman.

She seemed a little bit startled at first, but she regained her composure really quickly. "That would be a good question for you honey"

"Well, I just woke up and decided I couldn't sleep anymore." she looked over to the screen. "Is this the prince of Galra?"

"I'm surprised you know him." Krolia said. "But yes, I found some really interesting things about him."

Pidge rised an eyebrow, as Krolia showed her another tab. "The new girls?"

"Yes. Apparently, the two girls are english, if you couldn't tell" she muttered the last part under her breath. "And they're related to each other."

"But how do you know this? The information about people only appear in your data base if they're-" Pidge stopped herself, and her eyes widened at the realization. "... if they're in another gang's data base..."

Krolia nodded. "And not every group has a data base, or even performant technology like this. The most known group, and as far as I know the only one that has a data base is the Galra."

"so Lotor now..." Pidge sighted.

"I'm gonna call a meeting tomorrow with everyone except them. All of you need to know about this, even though I doubt nobody suspected anything." the woman said.

She closed all the tabs, and leaned back in her chair. "Were you in the infirmary with Hunk?"

The girl nodded.

"How is he?"

"Well, he's starting to get better. He has horrible headaches though. But other than that, he can stay awake for longer and actually talk to us. Shiro was saying something about bringing him into the main room tomorrow."

Krolia smiled slightly. "I'm glad."

They fell in silence for a few seconds. "How is Lance holding on? You know, about his nephews..."

"He's starting to accept it, but he's still struggling." Pidge said. "What about Veronica?"

"She's internalizing everyting. She wants to seem mama bear but it's hard to keep going on like this, you know?"

She nodded.

"I'm convinced they're going to get through this."

"Yeah..."


	10. Chapter 10

Day 253

The big plan

"I'm sorry if I interrupt anything, but are conferences really necessary in the war?" Lance asked. "I mean, there's only the eleven of us in here. I don't think there's any need for formalities."

Krolia rised her eyebrows. "May I remind you that we are registered as one of the biggest groups out there on the server?"

"Is there a server?" Matt asked. "I mean, that's a great way to bring all the survivors in one place."

The female chuckled, crossing her arms. "Only if it was that simple Matt... There are a few big groups registered in there. The biggest one is the Galra empire, and then there are some other smaller ones. Altea, MFE, Olkarion, and us."

"So you're telling me that these people don't actually want to help others?" Keith asked. "I mean, I get it, they want to protect their teams, but bringing everyone together is a better idea."

"Well, it's not like we can do anything about it Keith. The server was made by the Galra, and as far as we know they're bad guys. They did it because they want to track all the groups. We were automatically added when I turned on the computer, which, if I may say, it was a big mistake. But it isn't like I could have avoided it."

"But what about the groups that don't have any access on technology?" Veronica asked. "Do they just go by unnoticed?"

"Yes." Krolia sighted. "That's what I wanted to talk about on this conference. Last night I was scrolling through the server, and I found a bunch of interesting things."

Kolivan got up from his seat, and joined Krolia at the end of the table. "So as Krolia said, they have this server that we discovered a while back. In here, they keep all of our private informations, about every one of us. This way, they can track the movements that people make from a team to another, to see if they're working with each other or not."

"While I was looking at the informations about the Galra empire, I found out that prince Lotor and mostly everyone else in the castle is alive." Krolia said. "Apparently his father is missing, and by making this server, the prince thought he was going to find the king. Now I finally found Allura and Romelle on the server, and as far as it seems, they moved from Altea to Galra, and then they ran away again. What I'm thinking is that they were sent by the Alteans to track each team."

"As far as I heard alteans are good people. Why would they do this?" Pidge asked.

"They do what's best for their team." Shiro said. "But still Krolia, we need to consider every situation. What if they were originally from Altea, but the Galra captured them?"

"And how comes they came in this random Garrison base, threatening people with death and saying that they were going to take over the place?" Kolivan asked. "They clearly had a target. Otherwise, they would have asked for help."

"This doesn't matter." Kroia said. "They are working with the Galra either way, so all i'm saying is that we need to keep an eye on them."

She sighted and made a few steps around the room with her arms crossed. "I figured out that a way to get out of the server would be to move places."

Everyone's faces seemed to drop.

"Before you say anything, I know." she said. "But we're not going to completely leave the base. It's an experiment that I want to do, because I figured that this way we will be safer, and our supplies will last more."

"So what do you want to do, exactly?" Keith asked.

"I found this mall a few miles away. All the supplies are still intact, and as far as I know, its still untouched. I want to split the team in two. Six of you guys will go there, and the rest will stay here."

"And what are the teams?" Keith asked.

"I don't know. I'm still thinking about it. The mall is safer anyways, so I will pay attention to who I send there. I still want to hear Allura and Romelle's side of the story before I make any moves."

"Should we bring them here?" Shiro asked.

Krolia nodded. Shiro got up and left. The room fell quiet for a few seconds, until he came back with the girls.

The girls sat down on Kolivan and Krolia's empty seats, as Krolia looked at them and rised an eyebrow.

"We got you here because we need to know your side of the story. How did you guys end up here, and where did you guys originally came from? Don't bother yourselves to lie, because I already know everything."

The girls were silent for a second, before Romelle actually spoke up. "We came from Altea. Allura is Alfor's daughter, and I am her cousin. But one day in a mission we got lost with no way to contact our team. We met a guy named Lotor and Allura fell in love with him. Turns out the guy was only manipulating her, and after two months of letting us stay in his huge empire, he kicked us out. We've been watching the server, and we knew that the Voltron group was supposed to be in a Garrison headquarter, so we came here."

"As I said..." Shiro murmured under his breath.

"Were you sent here by Lotor?" Krolia asked bending down to Allura's level.

Allura seemed to glare daggers into the woman's soul. "This man, who calls himself a prince, got me pregnant and then kicked me out. Do you really think I would go back to feed him information?"

The room was dead quiet at this point.

"Anyways," Krolia made a few steps inside the room, thinking deeply. "So I'm going to send Allura to the mall. She's pregnant, and she needs a safe place."

"If she's going, then I'm going there too" Romelle said.

Krolia shrugged. "Alright. Allura and Romelle are already on the list. Now let's see. We have Hunk and Shiro with medical knowledge. I say Hunk goes to the mall because he needs a quiet place to recover. Also, he can be there when Allura gives birth. Do you think you can handle that? " Krolia asked looking at the samoan boy.

"Yeah. As far as there aren't any huge complications, I can do this." he said smiling slightly.

"Now I need an engineer, eventually hacker. Pidge, can I rely on you for the technology at the mall? You just need to code everything so the Galra won't find it."

"Got it" the girl said.

Krolia looked towards her son. "Keith, I'm afraid you will need to go too." she said.

"Why? I mean, can't you just send Lance or Matt?"

"Matt is going to handle the technology here, and Lance is already going there too."

The boy sighted. "Alright."

"Well then, it's established." Kolivan said. "You guys will leave tomorrow. And don't worry, you will be in contact with the other side of the group through the walkie talkies."

"Well then, that was it" Krolia said. "Now at least a part of the group is going to be safe against the Galra technology."

***

"You better take care of yourself out there" Matt said while throwing Pidge's backpack in the back of the van. "...and try to not kill anyone..."

"That would be something that I'm supposed to tell you considering the past events..." she rolled her eyes.

He pulled her in a hug. "Oh, and don't mess up the connections"

"Alright" Keith spoke as the Holts broke the hug. "Is everything in?"

"Pretty much" Lance said, then he turned to Veronica and hugged her.

"Well, I guess that was it for the next few months hermano" she said as she placed her hands on Lance's cheeks. "Be careful out there"

"I will" Lance smiled slightly. "You too"

Veronica laughed. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

She walked over to Allura and rubbed her arm. "I hope you have a smooth pregnancy. I bet they're going to be an asskicker like their mother."

Allura smiled. "Thank you"

"Come on people get in, we're leaving" Keith yelled as he walked over to the driver's side and got in. He looked over to Shiro, who gave him a slight smile and a wave of his hand, as Keith returned the gesture.

Lance helped Hunk in the back of the van, where Romelle was already sitting down, with her back against the wall, as Allura and Pidge sat in the front with Keith.

Keith turned on the engine and they left, as the van started getting smaller and smaller in the visions of the ones left in front of the big gate.

Krolia smiled slightly. She knew they were going to be safe. She trusted Pidge, she knew how to handle the technology so they won't get into the server too. She trusted her own son for defending the team. For being a great leader. She trusted Lance and Hunk, even though she just met them. Hunk had an amazing medical knowledge, enough to even be with Allura though her pregnancy. She also trusted Lance. He was a great fighter, no doubt.

She just knew it was all going to be fine at the mall. Out of her experience, there was no safer place than that.

***

The engine of the van suddently stopped, as Keith looked at the steering wheel for a few seconds, and audibly cursed.

"Don't tell me that it broke down." Pidge looked at him letting down the map she was holding.

He sighted and exited the car, opened the hood and looked inside, before quickly retracting his head as a cloud of black smoke made its way out of there.

He went over to the back of the van and opened the door. "That's it everybody, we're going on a walk"

Allura exited the van from the front. "You cannot be serious" she said in her british accent.

"Wait, did it actually broke down?" Pidge asked getting out after Allura. "But we're not even a mile in!"

Lance, Romelle and Hunk had puzzled expressions.

Pidge got into the back and started passing the bags to Keith and Allura.

"How much is there left?" Lance asked.

"Around fifteen miles" Pidge answered getting out of the back if the van and slamming the door shut.

"Didn't Krolia just say it was just 'a few miles' away?" Hunk asked.

"Well, it wouldn't have been much if we made it with the van" Keith said picking a backpack and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Can't we just go back and take another car?" Romelle asked.

"We only have three cars, and one of them is this van. We can't just take another car knowing that the people left at the Garrison are going to need them more than we will" Keith said.

"Come on, it's not going to be that bad..." Pidge said turning to Hunk and Lance. "We can stop if you guys want to, but it will be better if we made it there by sunset. It's already cloudy and we're in the middle of the woods."

They all looked at each other for a few seconds, before Keith finally turned and started walking. "Let's go"

***

"Man, I've never seen a bigger hoard of walkers. I'm surprised only a few of them got in" Matt said walking into the main room and dropping his gun and knife on the floor, right under the window.

Veronica looked up from her book, only to scrunch her nose at the sight of her friend's clothes covered in guts. She snorted. "Are you okay?"

Matt gave her a tired look. "I didn't find anyone around. Shiro is gone into the city for food, and Kolivan and Krolia simply just vanished. Whenever they left, the gate was opened and some of the walkers got inside. I had to throw the bodies over the fence because they already started to stink."

"Why didn't you call for me?" Veronica asked with an amused look.

"I did, but you're just deaf"

Veronica sighted and left down the book she was reading. "Did you say there was a hoard?"

"One of the biggest ones I've ever seen"

Matt went over to his bunk bed and reached for his bag with clothes. He took it and started heading towards the door.

"And Kolivan and Krolia aren't inside the academy?" Veronica asked as he stopped and turned back facing her.

"Not as far as I know. They keep dissappearing without telling us, and this really concerns me." he said. "Last time they did that, two random women broke into the academy and threatened my sister and her friends with death"

The girl pushed her glasses on her nose.

Matt shrugged. "Anyways, everything is fine now. I'll have to contact Pidge at some point though. Not only that they were supposed to be arriving a while ago, but I'll have to warn them about the hoard. It seemed to be heading in their direction."

He turned on his heels and left.

***

Pidge looked over to Allura. "Hey, are you okay?"

The girl looked in pain, mostly like she was about to be sick.

"Don't worry about me, it's just pregnancy sickness..." she said forcing a smile.

Keith turned to face the platinum haired girl. "Do you wanna stop for a little bit? Maybe that will make you feel better."

"That would be great Keith, thank you" She sighted.

They walked away from the path towards a fallen tree. Allura sat down, as Lance gave her a bottle of water.

"Hey Pidge, do you still have that medicine with you?" Hunk asked. "It should help with the sickness. I can't-"

He didn't get to finish, as Allura bended down over the tree and started throwing up.

Keith scrunched his nose and turned with his back facing the girl, being suddenly unwillingly interested by the trees ahead of him.

"... I can't put an IV in yet..." Hunk finished his sentence. "We need to get to the mall first."

Pidge took off her backpack and left it on the ground, bending down and starting to search through it. "Sure, just let me check..."

Romelle walked over to where Allura was and started drawing comforting circles with her hand on her back.

"I can't find it, I think I might have left it at the academy." Pidge sighted. "Sorry"

"No problem, I'm sure we can handle that." Hunk said. "Morning sickness isn't that bad after all"

***

Pidge looked up at the walkie talkie buzzing on the ground, right beside her.

"This is Krolia, do you copy?" there was a voice that came from it.

She picked it up, as Keith looked curiously at her from the spot where he was staying.

"Yes, we copy." Pidge said. "Did anything happen?"

"Are you there yet?" the woman asked.

Pidge looked at Keith with a pained expression. "What do I say?" she whisper-yelled.

"Tell her that we got there." Keith whispered back.

The girl nodded. "Yes, we are." she spoke into the walkie talkie.

"I'm glad" Krolia exhaled. "Anyways, just for safety, you should make sure everyone is in and blind up every entrance."

Pidge furrowed her brows. "Why would we do that?" she asked.

"A hoard just passed the academy. It was a big one, we barely made it without getting invaded. As far as it seemed, it's heading towards your direction."

The woman's words seemed to float in the air, as Pidge looked at Keith, utter panic writter across her features. Keith was struggling to register what his mother just said, and Hunk and Lance looked up from the map they were trying to figure out.

Romelle and Allura were asleep against the tree where Allura threw up, so they were the only ones unbothered by the conversation going on in between Krolia and Pidge.

"Okay, be sure we will" Pidge said before slowly putting the walkie talkie back on the ground.

There were a few seconds of silence, before Pidge spoke up again. "... Keith..."

"I know" he said. "We need to do something"

"What should we do?" Lance asked.

"We need to run away" Pidge said.

"Guys, let's not panic." Keith spoke calmly. "The hoard just passed the academy, which is ten miles away from here. Walkers can't run, and it will take them a while to get here. Especially because we only have six miles left."

"This doesn't change anything" Hunk said. "They will get to us anyways." He paused for a few seconds. "May I remind you that we can't run either?"

Keith sighted. "Fine then. Everybody get you stuff and let's go"

They all turned towards Allura and Romelle, who were still sound asleep.

"So..." Lance said. "Who's gonna wake them up?"


	11. Chapter 11

Day 253

The calm before the storm

"What did they say?" Shiro asked walking inside the conference room and sitting down on a random chair.

"We worried for nothing." Krolia smiled slightly. "They're already at the mall, and they said they were going to blind the entrances soon"

"That's good" Shiro said leaning back in his chair.

"I mean, it was to be expected" Matt said entering the room and leaning with his arms on the table. "Is everyone okay though?"

"Pidge didn't mention anything, so I'm just assuming they're all fine." Krolia said.

They all fell in a comfortable silence for a few seconds, with the satisfaction that it was all going well.

"Well then, that was it" Krolia sighted. "I'm glad everything is fine. I can't imagine what we would have done if something went wrong..."

Matt looked at her. "So now, what about our plans?"

Shiro furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"The supplies are slowly going out, and we are missing six people. Sure enough, four of them were not doing much for the team, but still, we have to organize ourselves." Matt said.

"Well, I've been thinking about that. Kolivan and I are the last ones that can go into scouting missions, so we're gonna leave that to you guys and Veronica, while we will manage the security. In today's mission you guys will search for fuel and eventually food. Make sure to let Veronica know too."

Matt nodded.

"Though, there is something about the scouting missions." Shiro said. "Lately we haven't found any kind of food. We searched in 90% of the city. I'm afraid we will need to move on to another one."

Krolia shurugged. "I don't see any problem. As long as you guys find enough fuel to get you there, and it won't last more than at most two days, you guys can go on the other side of the world"

Shiro chuckled. "Alright then. I'll go let Veronica know" he said as he got up and left the room.

***

"Everybody sound off" Keith said walking in front of the group.

There were multiple groans that came from the people walking not far away behind him.

"Well, I guess that works too..." he sighted. "Pidge, can you check how much do we have left?"

He could hear the sound of a map unfolding, and thd girl's answer that came after a few seconds.

"Around three miles"

Keith nodded. "Alright". He turned around to face the team.

Everybody looked half dead. Allura looked like she was going to collapse every second, while Romelle still surprisingly looked good, of course not great, but not as bad as her cousin.

Pidge was fighting with the backpack she was carrying, probably the half of her weight, and Hunk was swimming in his own sweat. Lance was trying his hardest to look tough, but it was obvious that he was already getting tired.

"Can't we just stop for a little while at least?" Lance whined for the tenth time if the past few minutes.

Pidge fought the urge to jump at his neck. "Lance I swear to God, if you don't shut the fuck up-" 

She was cut off by Keith. "Lance, we have three miles left. We're gonna get there in like, an hour, and then you can have all the rest you want. We can't risk to lose any more time, because if it's going to get dark before we get there, we can die in another ten different ways."

Lance stood quiet.

"There isn't anyone to blame for what happened." Keith contiuned. "It was an unfortunate event, and we couldn't have done anything to avoid it. Hopefully we're gonna get there soon and the base camp will never have to find out what actually happened."

They all walked quietly for a while, mentally agreeing with what Keith said.

"Is this is?" Allura asked pointing towards what seemed like a building covered in ivy, barely visible because of all the trees that had grown around it.

"I think it is..."

***

"It's weird being in a city that we barely know." Shiro said.

Veronica looked around. "You're right. This is nothing like the other one."

Matt poked his head around the corner, looking to his left, and then to his right, making sure the path was clear.

"It doesn't seem like there are any walkers around here." he mumbled more for himself.

Shiro snorted. "You also said that the last time you were alone into a city and you ended up naruto running into a crowd of walkers like an idiot."

"There was no point in bringing that up" Matt said crossing his arms, and pretending to be upset. "And to your information, I had a plan"

"Yeah, a plan to kill yourself" Veronica said.

"You guys are just being mean right now-" he was cut off.

All three of them abruptly stopped.

"Did you guys hear that?" Shiro whispered looking around.

Veronica and Matt seemed puzzled. Veronica looked behind herself. Her eyes immediately widened at the sight of the huge hoard coming in their direction.

"Do you mean..." she asked pointing towards it. "That?"

Shiro turned to look to where the girl was pointing.

"We shouldn't have talked about a hoard when running away from one is the last thing that we plan on doing today." Matt said.

"Oh, really? I wonder who brought that up" Shiro said starting to back off.

"Guys, stop arguing. We need to run!"

***

"Oh my God, we're actually here" Allura said jogging to the entrance and pushing the door open.

Keith cautiously looked around. "Be careful guys. Krolia said that there is a chance that there are walkers here."

"If there are any walkers, we should find a safe area and-"

Pidge shushed them. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Keith asked looking confused at her.

"It sounds like mumbling" she whispered as all of them stopped in their tracks and stood quiet for a few seconds.

"She's right" Lance said. "It really does. And it doesn't sound far away."

Keith took his gun and pointed it towards the next entrance that led in the actual inside of the mall.

"Hello?" he yelled and then stopped again, waiting for an answer.

The answer never came, as they all looked at each other.

"Are there people in here?" Romelle whispered.

Hunk shook his head. "I don't think so" he held close onto his machete.

"What if there are walkers?" Allura asked.

Keith and Lance looked at each other and nodded, before both of them stepped up in the front. "We'll have to find out either way."

Keith held his gun pointed towards the door, as Lance held a flashlight. As soon as Lance turned on his flashlight, several pairs of eyes looked right back at then.

The boys froze in place, until the walkers started heading towards them.

Keith swallowed. "Guys, I think we found where the mumbling was coming from..."

"Everybody out!"

***

Matt took one of the cans on the shelf and brushed the dust off of it with his thumb. "Canned food. Not bad."

He took a closer look at it, scrunching his nose and dropping it back on the shelf. "Nevermind, it's expired."

Veronica furrowed her brows. "How is it expired? The apocalypse happened only six months ago"

"It's probably from that one time when everybody thought the world was going to end" Matt said.

"That was like, ten years ago." Shiro said.

"Does that surprise you?" Matt asked.

He snorted. "It's funny how people were so convinced the world was going to end back then. Look at us now."

"We're just a bunch of confused teenagers who are desperately trying to survive against billions of contagious undead people. " Veronica said.

She sat down on the floor and leaned against the counter of the store they were in. "Man, I would give anything for another day on the beach in Cuba..."

The three stood quiet for a few seconds. They could hear the walkers in the outside banging on the windows. They knew they were in a safe area. They found a store, locked the doors and went into the very corner, where no walker could get in unless they had superpowers.

"To be honest, I miss home too" Matt said. "Sure enough, my life back there wasn't something that I would usually miss, but I regret that I didn't get to see myself as a freshmen in college."

"Don't" Shiro said, as him and Matt also sat down across from Veronica. "Out of personal experience, I can tell you that College is shitty."

Veronica snorted. "It's what you think because you were a nerd."

"And how was your college life, ms. popular?"

"I would party and get drunk, and then regret everything, but after a couple of days I would do it all over again." she said.

"Ah well, as far as I can see, that didn't get you too far" Shiro joked.

"But where did studying to the point where you hated college get you?" Veronica asked.

"Well, I was a computer science teacher in a high school."

"Oh, I bet the girls were head over heels for you" Matt smiled.

"Oh, they were until I accidentally slipped out the fact that I'm gay"

Veronica laughed. "How can that possibly happen?"

"Adam, my boyfriend at the moment, visited once into my class and I kissed him without realizing that there were actually thirty students just staring at us."

"They say love is blind, and they're right" Matt said and Shiro laughed.

They stopped for a couple seconds, still listening to the walkers outside.

"Do you guys think there are any survivors out there other than us?" Veronica asked.

"I mean, there probably are, but they don't wish us any good." Matt said.

"Why?" Veronica asked.

"Because many of the survivors avoid getting any more people in their groups. They don't want to give away their supplies for injuried people." Shiro said.

"It's already been six months. We can consider ourselves lucky enough that out of all the survivors in this world, we found Lance's group." Matt said.

"Now that we're talking about Lance, have you contacted them in the past hours?" Veronica asked.

"I tried, but the connection was bad." Matt said. "But as Krolia said, we have no reason to worry about. They're safe now."

Only if they were...

***

"So the mall got overrun..." Keith sighted slumping down on the ground.

"What are we going to do now?" Allura asked from her spot beside a tree, using a piece of cardboard as a fan.

"We can't tell the base camp" Pidge concluded. "They're going to find out about the whole thing."

Hunk sighted, and rubbed his face with his hands. "And then what are we going to say? We have no where to go!"

All of them stood quiet for a few seconds.

"This whole situation is so fucked up..." Lance said. "You guys realize that at some point, they're going to find out about this whole thing, right?"

"But Krolia seemed so invested in her plan..." Romelle said. "How are we going to tell her that it didn't work?"

"We don't even know when the whole building got overrun!" Pidge exclaimed. "She said she's been here a couple days ago!"

"Guys, I say let's stay here for a little while and think about our moves." Keith said.

"Keith, we've been thinking about our moves ever since we left that car in the middle of the woods!" Hunk said.

"No, let's think about it." Lance said. "Is it really impossible to get back there?"

"The mall is big. You can tell there are a lot of walkers in there." Keith said.

"Though, I'm thinking about choosing a clean section, blinding it up and closing it off and then just work with it. It's getting dark and cold, and it isn't good for us."

All of them stood quiet again.

"Aren't we going to be in danger?" Romelle asked.

"For a little while, yes." Lance said. "But we can't do anything about it. We'll clean the sections one at a time, and hopefully in a week or so the whole building is going to be clean."

"Though, a lot can happen in a week." Pidge said. "What if the base camp finds out?"

"They're not going to find out if we work fast and try to not let anything slip out" Keith said. "Come on, we should clean the first section until sunset"

***

Veronica looked around the store. "Man, this is a big hoard.."

"It's not just a big hoard, something is probably blocking their way." Matt said running a hand through his hair. "They're establishing theirselves here."

What are we going to do now?" she asked.

"We should check for any back door" Shiro said. "How long has it been since we got here?"

Matt looked at his watch. "Around two hours"

"Krolia and Kolivan must go crazy" Veronica mumbled.

Shiro got up from his previous spot on the floor, and started walking towards the back of the store, checking every door.

At some point, Veronica and Matt had started talking, as Shiro stopped in his tracks and shushed them.

"What is it?" Matt asked.

Shiro listened for a couple more seconds before signing to them that it sounded like people talking.

Veronica and Matt looked at each other for a few seconds, confused looks across their faces.

"The other group is pretty far away from this city, isn't it?" Matt whispered.

"Should I just go in?" Shiro asked already taking his gun and charging it.

"And what if it's a room full of walkers?" Veronica asked.

"It can't be. You said you heard voices." Matt said getting up and charging his gun too.

"But they might be people who want to kill us." Shiro said.

Matt sighted, and Veronica was the last one to get up from the floor.

"I mean, we've been talking out loud here for two hours. If they wanted to kill us, don't you think they would have done it until now?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah, but if they wanted to meet us, they would also already have done that." Shiro said.

"Maybe they're just scared of us?" Matt said. "Just try to open the door."

Shiro hesitantly put his hand on the door knob, twisting it and slowly pushing the door open.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust with the darkness inside the room, but once they did, he could see two figures curled up in the very corner.

"Please, don't hurt us!"

***

Keith and Lance exited the building, dropping their weapons on the ground. "We finally got rid of them"

"Well you would have finished faster if you let us help you" Pidge said getting up from the ground and brushing the dust off of her pants.

Keith sent her am advertising look. "You can still get an infection, Pidge. I'm not going to let you help us with putting down walkers until your wound is fully healed."

She just rolled her eyes.

"Then what about us?" Romelle asked gesturing to her and Allura.

Keith just took his bag from the ground, ignoring the girl. 

"Oh ladies, it will come the time when you won't be fighting over who's helping us anymore" Lance said. "Now let's get inside. It's already getting dark." 

They all started walking towards the building.

"The smell is killing, but we can't burn the bodies until tomorrow morning." Keith said. "Also, we should keep it low with light and sound. It's dangerous enough that we decided to stay here instead of moving on"

"We couldn't just move on without knowing what was ahead of us." Romelle said. "It's enough that we don't have a car, if we run into a hoard it's over!"

"Yeah, but we still had one more choice." Hunk said, and all the heads turned in his direction. "We could have gone back to the academy"

His friends turned back towards the mall as soon as he said that, but nobody said anything.

"What?" Hunk asked.

"We're gonna manage this way, Hunk" Keith said. "Let's just hope that the walkers didn't do anything to the supplies, and that we're gonna manage with the food that we have from the base camp until we clean the area."

They walked inside the mall, trying their hardest to not make any sounds. They walked across a small hallway, where there were no walkers, and into what used to be the shed.

They threw their bags on the floor, as Keith made sure to close the door, and place one of their bags against the door, so no light could get through under the door.

Pidge turned on her flashlight, and placed it on the floor, facing upwards.

There were a few moments of silence, while everyone analyzed their surroundings. 

"Whoa, this place is huge!"

***

"We won't hurt you, we are just hiding from the hoard" Veronica said helping an older man up.

He was a redhead, with an orange moustache, and a clear british accent.

"Who are you people?" a younger boy asked, coming out from behind the man.

His accent was also really obvious. They must have been related. 

His hair was blonde and wavy, medium lenght, and his eyes were bright blue. You could kinda tell there was something about him that the trio recognized, but they thought nothing of it.

"Please don't hurt us!" The man kept repeating. "We won't do any harm to you, we're unarmed and lost!"

Shiro and Matt dropped their guns to the ground, realizing that it might have been the reason why the two were so scared. I mean, maybe two 6ft tall guys getting inside the room holding shotguns wasn't the best way to greet the new people.

"Hey, you need to calm down. We won't hurt you!" Veronica said. "We thought you guys were going to."

"We don't have any plans against you" the boy said. "We're unarmed, we were just searching for a shelter when we saw the hoard coming, and we came in here to hide!"

"It's alright then. Are you guys part of any group?"

"No, we are on our own. The building we were settled in got attacked, and we are the only survivors." the boy said.

"So you were living with other people in that building?" Matt asked.

"Yes. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but we were part of the Altea group." the man said.

Silence took over the group.

"...and you are the only survivors of the whole Altea group?" Veronica chocked.

The two looked at each other before looking back at the trio. "Yes." the boy spoke.

Matt sent Shiro a glance, before looking back at the new people. "We can bring you guys to our base camp."

There were a few seconds of silence, before the man spoke. "Thank you so much..."

Shiro smiled slightly. "No problem. By the way, I'm Shiro. This is Matt, and this is Veronica." he said gesturing to his teammates. "What are your names?"

"I'm Coran, and this young man is Bandor"


	12. Chapter 12

Day 253

The storm

"Veronica, take Coran and Bandor and go to the car! Now!" Matt shouted from his spot beside Shiro.

The girl furrowed her brows and looked at him. "What about you guys?"

"Don't worry. We'll get there too." Matt said glancing over to Shiro. "Give us ten minutes. If we're not there, you guys leave without us"

Veronica sighted, before nodding. "Just be careful"

She motioned Coran and Bandor to follow her as she ran away.

"Matt, you have to go too" Shiro said looking up at him.

"No, Shiro. I'm not going to leave you here!" Matt said staring right back at the older boy.

Matt tried to keep pressure onto the wound, but the blood kept dripping down Shiro's arm.

"Matt, you don't understand, I have no chance!" Shiro said.

The blonde haired boy looked around, before helping Shiro up from the ground. "Come on, we have to get to the car."

Shiro pushed Matt's arm from around his shoulders with his left hand, leaning back onto the wall behind him for support. The taller boy whined in pain, and sat there for a few seconds to regain his composure.

"You have to leave me here. I won't make it out anyways."

Matt looked around at the street. They were sitting behind the wall of a building, so the walkers, who were not any farther than a couple feet away, won't see them. He saw Veronica, Bandor and Coran who were running to the car, before they ran around the corner, and he lost sight of them.

"Matt, this is a war, we have to make our choices!" Shiro said. "You either leave me here and get to the car safely, or take me with you and we both end up being eaten alive by the walkers."

He couldn't just leave him there. Shiro wouldn't have done that to him.

"I'm going to turn. You can't risk having me in the academy like this. Matt, please."

"I don't want to hear it!" Matt said putting his arm back around Shiro's shoulders and starting walking with him. "We're gonna make it to the car, and we're gonna get to the academy, and everything is going to be fine!"

It was more like he was trying to convince himself though. He felt like it was all on him. He felt like he was the one who had to decide Shiro's fate. And he didn't like the idea. He couldn't imagine going back to the academy and telling Krolia that her second son is dead. He couldn't tell Keith through a stupid walkie talkie that he was no longer going to see his brother ever again.

And most of all, he couldn't put down the man who saved him a month ago, and then live the rest of his life with this knowledge.

He was determined to at least get him back to the academy.

"I don't want to hear any excuse. We're both going back to the academy. We're gonna take care of you and you're gonna be fine in no time."

Jokes on him. That was never going to happen either way.

The adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He was struggling to get Shiro to move faster. The walkers had noticed them, and they were starting to move towards their way.

They finally managed to run around the corner, with a generous distance in between them and the walkers.

"Come on Shiro, we're almost there" Matt said trying to encourage the other boy.

Veronica noticed them and ran towards them. "Let's go, they're coming!"

She helped Matt by taking his backpack with the food that they found and gun and running to the car with them.

The two finally made it to the van, Matt helped Shiro in the back, while Coran and Bandor were in the front with Veronica.

They left without looking back, and they made it on the highway in no time. Now there was only one thing that worried them. They had to make it to the academy until Shiro turned.

They weren't dumb. They knew that he was going to turn anyways. But they at least wanted to get him to his mother to say goodbye.

Shiro was sitting on the ground, with his back against the wall of the van, while Matt was sitting across from him, in the same position. They were both breathing heavily, as the van was speeding on the highway. The orange light reflected by the sunset was peeking through the small window above Matt's head.

Shiro was groaning in pain and holding his arm, trying to put pressure onto the wound, as much as he could still do it. He started drifting off slowly, glancing over the small window.

Mtt noticed and jumped from his spot, rushing over to Shiro's side.

"Shiro!" he said trying to shake the older boy. "Please stay with me. We'll be at the academy in no time!"

He cradled Shiro's head in his arms. "You're not dying today! Come on Shiro, I know you can do this!"

"Matt, I- I won't make it..."

Matt started putting pressure onto the wound again. They were around an hour away from the academy.

Shiro wasn't going to turn just then, it was going to take another few hours until he did. Though, they couldn't take it for granted.

They couldn't wait until he turned to put him down. Matt couldn't believe it, but it was going to happen. It all felt like it was not real.

Maybe he just didn't like to admit the loss of the man who saved him. He wanted to return the gesture, but it was impossible now.

He should have done that earlier, before Shiro even got bit. He should have stopped him before he even got out the building.

He didn't even want to imagine how Keith was going to take the news. How was he going to tell him that his brother died because of him?

Seconds passed like hours, and the sound of the loud engine of the van were the only sounds that Shiro could hear aside from his own groans. He was in a lot of pain, and he just wanted it to go away...

He looked over at the coloured sky visible through the window across from him.

He's always liked sunsets. They were always so peaceful... Looking out the window at the bright orange sky, he started drifting off, as everything he heard became muffled.

Matt's image in front of his eyes became blurry. He could only hear the boy's panicked voice as his eyelids got heavier, and he eventually drifted off...

Day 254

Veronica softly opened the infirmary door. The blonde haired boy jumped from the chair he fell asleep on. She smiled slightly, as Matt stretched in his spot.

Her smile faded as she glanced over to the unconscious body laying on the bed.

Matt looked at him too, before he sighted and rubbed his face with his hands.

Veronica furrowed her brows. "Are you okay?"

Matt looked at his surroundings, thinking of the answer he was going to give. "I mean, I'm fine." Matt said. "It's not about me." he looked over to Shiro again. "It's about him"

"Oh, hermano..." she smiled sadly. "He's going to be fine. If he made it until the morning, you have nothing to worry about anymore. He's going to wake up soon, and everything will be alright."

She opened her arms, as Matt accepted the gesture and got up, leaning down to her level and hugging her.

" It's all my fault. I shouldn't have suggested to leave that building." he said.

"Matt, it's not" Veronica said breaking the hug and placing her hands on his shoulders. "It was for our own good to leave. It was getting dark, and the flashlights would have only attracted more walkers."

"But now he's going to have to live without an arm for the rest of his life because of this"

She shook her head slightly, with an expression of compassion. "Matt, think about what would have happened if we didn't leave then. That would mean leaving when outside was already dark, and that meant flashlights on, which could have attracted all the walkers towards us, and it could have ended very badly, for sure way worse than this! "

She paused for a few seconds. "Would it have been better if that happened? In that case, we all would have been dead right now."

Matt stayed quiet.

"Matt, it's already a miracle that we managed to save him. I'm sure that he won't have anything against the fact that we took his arm to save his life."

***

"You did what?!" Keith asked dumbfounded.

"Look, I had them yesterday, I don't know where they-"

"Pidge, do you realize that you lost our only ways to contact the base camp?!" Keith asked already losing his mind.

"Keith, calm down" Lance said. "I'm sure they can't be lost for good. They couldn't have just vanished!"

"Oh man, I'm sure Krolia is going to lose her mind..." Hunk said. "We can't even get back to the base camp if we need to, can we?"

Pidge looked down. "That was the only map we had."

She paused for a few seconds. "The last time I used it was way before we got here. The walkie talkie too."

"So let me get this straight" Romelle said in her british accent. "Now, not only that we lied about getting to the mall and 'blinding the entrances' when we were five miles away from here, and we hid the fact that the car broke down, and also the fact that the mall got overrun, and we don't have access to any of the supplies inside the mall, but now we also lost the only walkie talkie and map, that were our last chance in case we didn't manage to empty the building."

Keith sighted, running a hand through his raven hair. "Pidge, I can't believe you did this! Out of all the survivors, we're the last ones that should have gotten in this situation. We're not prepared for this!"

"So what you're saying right now is that we might not get to the base camp ever again?" Hunk asked in terror.

"We might not even hear from them ever again..." Pidge said quietly.

"Maybe you can search for them" Allura suggested.

"She can't. The map is also lost." Keith said. "We can't risk getting into the woods and blindly search for a map and a walkie talkie. Plus, with all the walkers around here, we might not even find them ever again." he sent Pidge a glare.

They all fell quiet. The tension inside the room was obvious. They weren't supposed to find theirselves in this situation.

" So... " Lance said asked hesitantly." What do we do now? "

Nobody said anything for a few seconds. The truth was, none of them actually knew.

"Maybe you should ask Pidge." Keith spoke in a low voice, before turning on his heels and heading towards the door.

"Uhh, Keith... where are you going?" Hunk asked.

"I have some walkers to put down. If any of you decide to join me, I'll be in the main hall." He said before he left.

The door closed shut behind him, and all that was left behind was quiet. It was a feeling that they didn't know how to express, but they felt helpless about something that was supposed to go well.

***

Matt placed the walkie talkie down on the desk and sighted. Krolia glanced over to him from her spot in front of the computer.

"Are they not answering?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I've been trying for almost an hour now, I don't know why it's not working." he said.

"Maybe you're not on the right channel?" Krolia asked. "Or maybe you messed up the connections?"

"I checked everything already." he said. "There's nothing wrong with it."

He paused for a few seconds. "I'll just try again later." he said before leaning back in his chair.

Krolia continued her work at the computer.

The blonde haired boy glanced over at her from his spot across her at the desk in the computer room. "Veronica said you were searching for donors for Shiro. Have you found anything?"

"No. None of us have blood that can be compatible to his." she looked away from the computer and leaned back in her chair. "I don't know what we're going to do. It's bad enough that we can't contact the others, now we have no compatible donors, and this means he might not make it."

She ran a hand through her hair and sighted. Matt frowned. She was never like this. It was clearly that this whole situation was affecting her. After all, she was like a mother to Shiro. Now, seeing him laying unconscious on the infirmary bed, knowing that he might either wake up as one of the undead, or just not wake up at all, was obviously a big hit.

It wasn't like Matt wasn't affected by the whole situation. He had grown really close to Shiro ever since they found him. Even though it's only been like, two months, in apocalyptic conditions you tend to get more attached to people, because your life is depending on them most of the time.

He didn't want to blame himself. It took a lot of convincing, but he figured out that Veronica was right. It was no one's fault that it happened. Yes, maybe this situation could have been avoided, but it would have been something supernatural anyways.

"It's going to be okay" he said, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. Ever since they came back with Shiro the day before, Kolivan and Krolia had been dead quiet. It obvioulsy affected them, maybe more than it affected him.

Krolia smiled sadly. "I know, son"

Hopefully Shiro was going to get well before the others found out. He knew how close Keith was to Shiro, and he obviously did not want him to worry or make impulsive decisions, because he was the only one out of his whole team that was not injuried.

Though, he couldn't help but think about the walkie talkie. Why wasn't him able to contact the others? It seemed almost stupid to him. He knew it must have been Pidge who might have accidentally turned it off or messed up the connections, but a part of him didn't want to believe that. He just felt as everything happened way too fast the day before. He felt like they got there too soon. Maybe because he was used to their plans always going to shit. But still, something felt off, and he couldn't put his finger on it.

He suddently gasped, and looked at Krolia with wide eyes. She turned and glanced at him, startled by the boy's sudden reaction.

"Krolia... the hoard..."

It took her a few seconds to get what Matt was trying to tell her, but once she got it, the realization hit her like a train.

They stood in silence for a few seconds. Both of them realizing that they never considered this eventuality. The zombies were slow enough to get there by the morning, and they didn't want to think about what could have happened if they passed through the mall.

"Krolia, what if that's why they're not answering?" Matt asked from his spot at the desk. Krolia could tell that the look on his face was pure terror. She didn't look any better.

She ran a hand through her hair. "No... it can't be, right?"

They fell quiet again. 

"No, you have to try again." Krolia said motioning to the walkie talkie. "Try to contact them again"

***

Keith stopped in front of the door and sighted. He could hear all the walkers from inside. There were a lot of them, and there was no possible way to get them all out. 

"Maybe we can use smoke bombs to get rid of them." he heard a voice from behind himself.

"You know, just because you won't be able to see them, it doesn't mean that they won't be able to bite you" he replied. "The 'out of sight, out of mind' thing doesn't work with walkers."

Pidge just furrowed her brows. "What is your problem?"

"I don't know, maybe ask the one who lost our only ways out of this hell hole" he said nonchalantly.

"I already apologized, what do you want more?" Pidge finally snapped. "Look, we're already in a shitty situation. Your anger issues are the last thing I want to deal with."

"I knew you shouldn't have been the one to take care of the map and the walkie talkie. They were too important to be left in your hands." he muttered under his breath, stuffing his hands in his pockets and watching the walkers on the other side of the glass door. 

Pidge stood quiet behind him for a few seconds. She knew it was her fault, and she felt horrible for this, but she also knew that Keith was overreacting about the whole situation. 

"These aren't regular smoke bombs" she finally said analyzing the small package in her hands. "They have a substance that kills the walker's brain. Isn't this what we're aiming for?"

Keith furrowed his brows and turned to face her, and looked at the thing she was holding. "So you're telling me that those are supposed to kill walkers? If they really were, I bet there wouldn't have been a single walker in this world anymore. Where did you even get those from?"

"My mom" she said. "She was the one who invented and tested them. They actually work. Though, they are as deadly for us as they are for the walkers."

Keith rised an eyebrow and took the small bomb from her hand, analyzing it. 

"The substance can kill people if we breathe it in. The effect of the substance goes away in about 24 hours." she said rubbing the back of her neck. "I was thinking that we could get all the walkers in one room per each floor, and throw a bomb in."

Keith seemed to be in denial. "I don't think it's a good idea."

Pidge sighted. "Do you have a better one?"

Silence.

"...no."


	13. Chapter 13

Day 260

A walk into the woods

"So what do we do now?" Veronica asked, not even giving Krolia any time to talk.

Matt gave her an advertising look, signaling her to be patient, before he glanced over to Krolia.

The woman never looked that bad before. Her face was pale, and she had dark circles around her eyes. She was just sitting up by the head of the table, looking at her feet.

Everyone knew she was blaming herself. It was her plan after all. And now, it's been a week since they contacted the other team for the last time, and ever since then, they just vanished.

Krolia hadn't slept in days. She's been watching the only walkie talkie every second, waiting for a response from the other team.

Aside from that, Shiro's state had been on and off, giving her an extra reason to worry.

"Any sign from them at all?" Shiro asked looking from his seat at the table in the conference room.

It wasn't quite necessarily to ask that since everyone already knew the answer.

"Nothing." She said running a hand through her hair. "It's been a week, I can't explain to myself what might have happened with them!"

"Okay, let's calm down for a minute and seriously think about it." Kolivan said getting up and analyzing everyone's expressions.

The room fell quiet for a few seconds, as they were analyzing their options.

"My main guess is the hoard." Matt said. "We never heard anything from them as soon as the hoard was supposed to get to the mall"

"But what would have been the chances for the walkers to go straight to the mall and not change directions once?" Kolivan asked.

"What if it's something involved with the Galra? Or maybe Allura and Romelle? They told us theirselves that they lived with the prince for a while." Veronica said.

"Look guys, there can be a million reasons why we can't contact them anymore. We won't get to know unless we're actually searching for them" Shiro said.

Krolia looked at him, almost horrified of the thought.

"Shiro, I don't want to hear this" she said warily.

"Then how do you want us to find them? We can't track them down since we can't announce them to turn any technology device on. Plus, if we do, the Galra will find them too!" Veronica said.

"So what do you think would be a wise idea? Sendind a team out there without even knowing where they are?" Kolivan asked. "What would you be searching for? We don't even have a single track of theirs, let alone the fact that they might not even be on the initial route anymore."

"I'm sorry Veronica, but Kolivan is right." Krolia said. "We can't risk anymore. There are only five of us in here, and splitting the team in two would mean killing ourselves on both sides."

"Krolia, we can't just leave them there!" Veronica hit her fist on the table. "They are our families, they are injuried!"

"Which lowers their chances of survival in an eventual attack." Krolia continued her argument.

The room fell quiet for a few seconds. The tension in the air was so shrill that it could change anyone's mood in a matter of seconds.

The situation they found theirselves in was impossible. They had a feeling of helplessness, wanting to know more about the other side of the team.

Krolia knew from the moment she came up with the plan that there were huge risks, but she refused to think about it. What were the chances after all?

Working with the Blade of Marmora for so long, she was an expert in making plans and knowing how to hide from the big governmental organizations.

But this time, that her son was involved in the whole situation, she let her heart lead. She knew that the apocalypse never provided everyone family and she was through the lucky ones that she wasn't on her own. And just because of that, she tended to get overprotective over her sons and boyfriend, wanting to keep them safe at all costs, no matter the consequences.

"Look Krolia, I've always had a big family" Veronica said in a lower voice. "Their happiness meant my happiness, and I thought you out of all people would understand. When they are happy, you don't need anything else."

Krolia looked up from the ground, into her bright blue eyes. Veronica never usually showed emotions, but when she did, they were powerful.

"Of course I understand, Veronica. For fuck's sake, my son is out there and I don't even know if he's alive or not!"

"If you did, they wouldn't have been there still after a week!" she paused for a few seconds, regaining her composure. "Out of my whole family, Lance is the only one I have left. I lost him once, and I hated it. I hated not knowing if he was alive or not, and not having any ways to find him, and I don't want this to happen again. Now that there is a chance that we will actually find them all, why not to take it?"

Krolia sighted and looked around the room for a few seconds, trying to find the right words to explain the whole situation.

"It's not as simple as it seems. The Galra are tracking us, and sooner or later, they will figure out that we are running away from them." Kolivan spoke before her. "Aside from that, sending even two of us towards the mall would be too dangerous on both sides."

"But do we have any other choice? We haven't gotten any sign from them in a week!" Matt said. 

No one said anything. They knew Matt was right.

They had nothing else left to do then actually search for them. Giving up on them was obviously not an option, since there were the six of them.

"I am going" Veronica suddently said, receiving looks from everyone. "I honestly don't care if anyone else wants to join me. I will get there and I will find them, with or without your help."

Veronica's sudden decisions or sacrifices were no longer surprising the team. They've all gotten used to them, since she would give her own life for them. Sure enough, she would make impulsive decisions from time to time, but they were all just because of how devoted she was.

Krolia just sighted and ran a hand through her hair. "We need to think our moves, you can't just go out there on your own!"

"Look Veronica, all of us want to find them, but we have to be careful with our choices, because they're limited on both sides" Matt said.

"I understand that, I always did, but in situations like these you drop everything to the ground and start searching! " Veronica said.

"It's been a week, we don't even know if they're still alive anymore..." Shiro said more to himself.

"We don't know unless we do something to find out" Veronica said.

They fell quiet again.

"If they were in danger, they would have let us know." Kolivan added. "Not through the walkie talkie, but through other ways. I don't know, lighting something on fire, or maybe firing warning shots or even fireworks. They have everything that they need for this and yet they're not doing anything. And even if they couldn't use these ways, they would've found another ones. They are all smart. I know they wouldn't just stay like that."

He paused for a few seconds. "I'm sure they're fine."

"So if they're fine, why are they not answering anymore?" Shiro asked.

"Maybe it's something wrong with the connection. Maybe the Galra took it down."

Krolia sighted again.

"And what are we going to do now?" she asked. "Lose people again?"

"If we actually send a team into the woods, we will have to make sure that they have everything they need to survive." Kolivan said. "I know the risks are high, but it's not like we can do anything else to find them."

Krolia let herself defeated. She knew it was a huge risk to send people away again, and she obviously didn't want to make the same mistake she made by doing the whole moving plan in the first place. But now that she already did it, there was really nothing else to do than to repay the consequences.

She sighted. "Matt and Veronica, I trust you with my life on this."

The two looked up at her, but their expressions didn't change.

"You're leaving tomorrow morning. Someone will be here on the roof 24/7 and you guys will use fireworks everytime you pass a mile. You can't have a car since we're completely out of gas, but you should make it in a day. Your food and water should last both ways, so use them carefully."

"How do we let you guys know that we found them... or that we didn't?" Veronica asked.

Krolia seemed to think for a few seconds. "One final firework. If we count the miles, there should be around 16. So your sixteenth firework will let us know that you got there. Now if it's blue, it means everything is okay. If it's red, it means it's not. I will make sure to color code them."

"What if we leave right now?" Matt asked. "It would take us at most 5 hours to get there, and the fireworks will be more visible during the night."

"It's almost midnight, you guys are already tired." Krolia said. "Plus, what are Bandor and Coran going to say?"

"Bandor and Coran are already passed out, they don't even know we're having this meeting right now" Veronica said. "And we're not tired. Maybe if we leave now we're going to arrive by the sunrise, and if everything is alright we will get back by noon. Coran and Bandor don't even need to know where we are going unless we bring Allura and Romelle back. Otherwise, we left for a gathering mission."

Krolia sighted again, looking around the room.

"Alright" she finally said. "We're going to have Shiro on the roof looking for the fireworks. If something happens on the way there, light a red one so we will know and come for you guys. Keep your weapons out at all times, and expect walkers so you can take them down easily when they show up. Got it?"

Matt and Veronica glanced over to each other before they nodded to Krolia's statement.

"And I'm repeating myself, Bandor and Coran don't need to know anything, especially about the fact that Allura and Romelle are at the other base." Krolia said. "And I'm not only talking with you two, it's available for everyone. We don't want them leaving the base and going to search for them, or thinking that we're keeping them prisoniers or something."

***

"I bet Coran would have been so happy to see her niece pregnant" Veronica sighted, lighting her flashlight in multiple directions, like she's been doing for the past hour.

She was just trying to make conversation. Matt was really quiet, maybe because he was trying to recognize his surroundings. Neither of them were good at reading maps, and guiding theirselves in the middle of the night through the woods was obviously something big.

She knew Matt was usually really calculate, and he would analyze everything really closely, which was the thing she liked about him. Even though she knew he didn't always agree with the plans that the team would make in general, he wouldn't really speak about it unless it was absolutely necessarily.

She felt somehow safe knowing her impulsive self and knowing that she had someone like him with her.

They've already lighten the first four fireworks, and so far everything was going fine. They knew the fireworks couldn't atract walkers because, believe it or not, there were two things that they were afraid of: water and fire.

"I mean, he's going to see her soon enough..." He stopped himself. "... of course, if everything is alright."

"I agree with Kolivan. They would have given them a sign or anything if they were really in danger." Veronica said.

Matt looked at the map again and stopped, letting his backpack drop to the ground before bending down and taking another firework from the inside.

He set it on the ground and took a lighter, lightning it and getting up.

"Back off" he said as both of them moved away from the pyrotechnic object.

The firework took off, and it soon became a blue explosion, lighting up the sky.

Matt snorted, taking his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder. "Shiro at the base is waiting for the color of the firework as if it's a gender reveal party. Except we're in the middle of the woods and we don't even know if the one who's pregnant is even alive."

Veronica couldn't help but smile slightly.

They fell in a comfortable silence as they started walking again, until Matt broke it.

"I agree with Kolivan too, but why was the car in the middle of the forest not even two miles away from the academy?" He said reffering to the previous subject that Veronica brought up.

She furrowed her brows. "The car... I honestly can't explain to myself why was it there... didn't they tell us that they got there just in time? They couldn't have just ran to the mall in order to get there in the same amount of time that they would have gotten if they had the car."

" I mean, it was broken anyways. But why wouldn't they tell us?" Matt asked." And even if they chose to not tell us and play it cool, then why are they not answering anymore? "

Veronica stayed quiet for a few seconds. "I think it's something about the Galra and Allura and Romelle. What if they are still working with the Galra and they used this opportunity only to capture our people?"

"Veronica, let's not go too far" Matt said. "There are a billion reasons why we can't contact them anymore but we won't find out until we get to the mall."

"I totally agree" Veronica said. "All I'm saying is that Krolia's been putting all the effort into finding the mall, checking it out, and building up a plan for a part of us to be safe against the Galra who are tracking us, and now maybe because of Allura and Romelle our siblings and friends might be captured by the Galra!"

"Don't you think it's just a stereotype?" Matt asked her retorically.

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows, looking up at him dumbfounded. "Are you defending them now?"

Matt's expression didn't change. "I never said that. I am aware of the fact that they can still be working with the Galra, and used the fact that Krolia sent them to the mall just to bring the Galra on their tracks. But remember what they said in that one conference that Krolia had before they left. They said that Lotor kept them hostage."

Veronica scoffed. "They didn't say that"

"They said that Lotor got them in, got Allura pregnant, and then he kicked them out." Matt paused for a few seconds, continuing with a lower voice. "Have you seen Coran and Bandor? They have no clue where their family is, and they've been through a lot. They seem kind people. I doubt they will do something like this. Especially because Coran doesn't even know that Allura is pregnant."

"Coran and Bandor are nice, I never said anything about that" Veronica said. "But they don't have any information about Allura or Romelle ever since before the Altea base got overrun. Maybe something happened with them while they were with Lotor. What if it's not even their fault after all and the Galra are just threatening them into bringing our team to them?"

Matt didn't think Veronica was making any sense. Maybe because it was really late at night and neither of them have had any sleep in almost 24 hours. But she was obviously overthinking the whole situation. How did she even get from the fact that Allura and Romelle were simply at the mall to the whole team getting kidnapped by the Galra just because of them?

"I say we should take a few minutes, calm down, and stop overthinking the situation" Matt said.

He stopped walking and unfolded the map, as Veronica was holding her flashlight in his direction. "And anyways, we should drop the next firework soon"

***

"Matt, did you hear that?" Veronica asked him with wide eyes.

Matt furrowed his brows as they both froze in their tracks and listened for a few seconds.

"That sounds like... rustling?" Matt asked more for himself.

"Your flashlight is more powerful. Light that way." she said pointing with her finger ahead of them.

The sun had started to set, but you still couldn't see much because of all the trees.

"I- I don't think I see anything" Matt said, and his voice became more like a whisper. "What if it's them?"

Veronica didn't say anything for a few seconds, seriously thinking about what Matt just said.

"But we're still not there, aren't we?" she asked on a low voice.

"We're still around a mile or so away" Matt said with his eyes glued on the path in front of them, scanning for anything that could have been making the sound that they just heard.

"It might be animals or walkers then" Veronica said taking her knife out and protectively holding it in front of herself.

"So now we either get breakfast, or we become breakfast" Matt said as he followed Veronica's gestures, taking out another knife of his own.

The sound came yet once again from another spot somewhere behind them, as they both turned around in a matter of a second, ready to attack whatever was trying to get to them.

The forest seemed dead quiet for a few seconds, after their unwanted discovery. Veronica gasped. The two looked at each other, utter panic written across their features.

"We need to run" Veronica demanded, wrapping her hand around Matt's wrist and pulling on it, signaling him to leave.

Matt looked around theirselves one more time.

"I don't think we can. Th-they are everywhere"


	14. Chapter 14

Day 260  
What the day brings

Veronica walked straight towards a fallen tree somewhere away from the main path. She was panting. She let her knife fall to the ground, before falling down herself, running a hand through her hair.

Matt was left behind by a couple feet. He caught up, and stopped in front of Veronica. He put his knife back in its shealth, and looked down at the blood all over his clothes.

He sighted. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

Veronica looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "I'm fine, thank you"

He looked behind him, just to make sure all the walkers were gone.

"They just came out of no where" he said.

"We were lucky to escape" Veronica said after a few seconds.

Matt let his backpack slide on the ground. He opened it and took another firework and a lighter and walked away with them.

"If we wouldn't have escaped, we might have had to cover ourselves in guts and follow them." the girl continued.

Matt lit up the firework and walked away towards Veronica. He stared at the projectile as it took off, being lost in his own thoughts.

Veronica looked around at her surroundings. It was a cool, fall morning. The leafs have started to turn yellow, the sky was covered by clouds, which was kind of an advantage for them because it made the dark last a little longer, and the fireworks visible from the base, no matter what color they were. The air was fresh, considerably fresher since there were only a couple thousands of people left on Earth, Veronica could guess.

She was suddently snapped out of her trance when she noticed a familliar object laying on the ground, beside a tree a couple feet away from her.

Matt sat down beside her and leaned with his back against the fallen tree. He threw his head back and ran a hand through his hair.

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows, still staring at the object. She hit Matt in his ribs with her elbow. 

"Matt, do you- do you see that?"

Matt looked confused at her. "See what?"

"The-" she didn't bother to finish the sentence. She just got up and walked towards the tree, bended down and picked the object, analyzing it and then showing it to Matt.

"Is that a walkie talkie?" he asked dumbfounded. He got up and walked towards the girl, taking the walkie talkie in his own hands, looking at it really closely.

"But we didn't follow the same road that they did. They were supposed to go by the highway." Veronica said.

"But first the car, now the walkie talkie? This is the exact same walkie talkie they left with." Matt said. "And I doubt there are any other survivors around here except from us"

"But the last time we contacted them, they told us they were already there." she said.

"They could have easily lied, and even if they were there maybe they came back searching for something and forgot it here." Matt said. "I say we should try it and contact Krolia, then go towards the mall and make sure they're all fine."

Veronica took it from his hands and brought it closer to her mouth, before pressing the button. "This is Veronica from scouting team. Does anybody copy? Over."

She furrowed her eyebrows, noticing that nothing was happening even after a few seconds. "I think it's out of battery"

Matt walked over to his backpack that was still laying on the ground. He took it and closed it, throwing it over his shoulder. "Come on, we're less than a mile away. We can get rest as soon as we get there."

***

Veronica and Matt walked out of the woods, towards the path that was leading to the mall.

Matt shoved the map in the back pocket of his pants, looking up at the huge building ahead of them.

What was once a parking lot was now a huge opened space covered with grass and weeds, leading to the main entrance of the mall.

There was also a path that was leading towards the highway, but the rest of the space was just a huge forest.

"Why is no one patrolling this place?" Matt asked furrowing his brows. "I'm pretty sure there's no one on the roof, I paid attention to that."

"We're too far in to get away unobserved. We just walked through a huge opened space. If there was anyone patrolling, we would have been spotted by now" Veronica said thoughtfully.

They stopped in front of the main entrance, and looked at each other for a few seconds.

Matt tried opening the huge metal door, but it didn't seem to work.

Veronica made a few steps back.

"Wait, let's not kick it down and alarm everyone if they're still inside." Matt said. "Maybe they're using another entrance. If not, we wait until somebody wakes up. It shouldn't take too long."

Veronica sighted, as they both walked away from the entrance. They were both tired and over all just out of energy, and they didn't understand what was going on, and why they found the van a mile away from the academy, and then the walkie talkie a couple miles further into the forest.

It made no sense, especially because the main route that they were supposed to follow was on the highway, and not through the forest, and the last time they contacted them, they said that they were preparing everything for the hoard that was supposed to pass by, so they were already inside the mall.

They were aware of the fact that they could have simply lied about their locations, but why would they do that? Now Veronica's theory was really getting to Matt. What if Romelle and Allura forced them into doing this because they're still working with the Galra?

They walked around the corner to the left, and they both stopped in front of a huge glass door, which they could only guess was once another entrance.

Either way, the whole thing was broken. Matt got his flashlight, since inside it was still pretty dark, and pointed it towards the other side of what was left out of the broken glass. It was an empty room, with nothing but a door that was closed.

"Let's try going that way. Maybe that door is not locked. Walkers can't open doors anyways" Matt said as he stepped over the broken glass, inside the room.

Veronica followed him, keeping her knife close. "Did they ever mention what section were they going to live in?" she asked. "I mean, this place is huge."

"They never said anything. I guess Krolia just missed to mention it." The boy answered waiting for Veronica to step over the glass before turning to walk towards the door. "Our only choice is to search the entired building if we really want to find them. And I doubt they're not here after we found the van and the walkie talkie on the way."

Veronica sighted. "I just hope you're right"

Matt cautiously placed his hand on the doorknob and switched it, as the door opened, to his surprise.

They both entered the huge basement, and stopped for a few seconds, looking around.

"Should we head upstairs?" Veronica asked. "They might have gone there since it would have been safer against walkers and a good observation place for the ones who are patrolling"

Matt scoffed. "Please, if there was anyone patrolling here, we would have been dead by now. I mean, we just nonchalantly walked in the middle of the opened space and nobody saw us."

They subconsciously started heading towards the stairs. Matt's statement was just meant to light up the mood.

They started walking up the stairs, Matt leading the way with the flashlight. At some point, he froze in place, as he rose his index finger in the air, motioning for Veronica to be silent.

She looked up at him, trying to listen for a few seconds, but she never seemed to hear anything.

"What did you hear?" she whispered.

He turned around and walked down the stairs past Veronica. "Let's stick to the basement. I think there are walkers up there."

Veronica stood still for a few seconds, before she followed him. "Wait- Krolia said there were no walkers in here. Plus, how would they get all the way up there?"

Matt reached the bottom of the stairs and quickly checked the place with the flashlight. "I don't know, but we can't risk getting up there either way. Let's just- search for them around here."

Veronica didn't say anything as she followed him around the place. She knew that he wouldn't be running away from nothing.

They walked around the corner, and stepped into what seemed like a long corridor with a couple doors on the left side, and a huge dirty window all the way from the ceiling into the ground on the right side. The tiles on the floor that were once white were now full of dirt and blood.

Their steps echoed into the long hallway, which was probably the thing they were fearing the most at that point.

Veronica stopped in front of one of the doors. She brushed the thick dust off the sign with her palm, revealing the toilet sign.

Matt rised an eyebrow, as Veronica struggled to push the door open and enter the restroom.

"Do you need...?" Matt asked, before being interrupted by the girl's irritated tone.

"Shut the fuck up and hold the door open. I'm just checking if the water is running and I'm pretty sure I don't want to get locked up in here."

Just as Veronica stepped into the restroom, Matt heard a door creak somewhere around another corner, at the very end of the hallway.

He looked over there. He could guess that on the right side it must have been another exit, and on the left side it was a hallway that led towards the main area of the mall.

So then where did the creak come from?

Without realizing, he left the door close shut before taking his knife and carefully approaching the other hallway. He got there and stood with his back glued against the wall, listening to anything that could make the difference in between a person and a walker.

He heard footsteps approaching him, as he was getting ready for an eventual attack.

He knew that he was screwed if it was someone else, other than the other team that they were searching for. Him and Veronica could get captured or God knows what. Now about Veronica-

Matt stepped in front of the person, with his knife rised up.

The cuban boy screeched, before he regained his composure and they both stared at each other in confusion for a few seconds.

Matt glanced over to the door that Lance had just exited, expecting the rest to come out.

Withing seconds, Keith burst out the door with his gun rised up.

Matt innocently rised his hands up in defeat.

Keith froze in his tracks, looking at Matt with wide eyes.

"Uh oh... We fucked up..." he said under his breath.

"Matt I- What the heck are you doing in here?!" Lance finally asked.

***

"Matt I swear to God, just you wait until I get out of here and you will be dead" Veronica's muffled voice could be heard from the inside of the restroom.

Lance walked around the corner with a screwdriver and handed it to Pidge, who took it and started unscrewing the latch.

Matt leaned with his back against the glass wall behind him. "Well I'm sorry because I thought I was gonna get killed." he said glaring towards Lance.

"Oh so it's my fault that I woke up and decided to walk out because I never expected someone breaking into the mall at 6 in the morning?" Lance put an overdramatic hand over his chest, where his heart was supposed to be.

Matt rised an eyebrow. "Should I remind you the actual reason why we're here?"

"That would be Pidge's fault" Lance said.

"Why exactly would it be my fault?" she scoffed. "I'm not the only one living in here."

"But you're the only one who was supposed to take care of the walkie talkie" Keith said walking from the room they slept in towards the entrance.

"Fuck off" she said looking to the right, where Keith was already out of her sight. "If the walkie talkie is my fault, then who's fault is the van-"

The door slammed shut, signaling that Keith was already out of the building, no longer listening to her. Not that he did before.

She rolled her eyes and turned back towards the door, continuing to unscrew the latch.

"You two belong in the kindergarden" Matt pointed out.

"Yeah, and you belong in the preschool" Pidge replied bitterly.

"I'm sorry to break the party, but how much do you still have until I can get out of here?" Veronica yelled from inside the restroom.

"The only thing we have is a screwdriver and these screws are 100 years Old" Pidge said. "I'll let you make the calculations"

"Matt, if you start running now, maybe you'll find a hiding spot until Veronica gets out of here." Lance said.

"Estás equivocado si crees que puedes huir de mi" Veronica said.

"That didn't sound good" Matt furrowed his brows.

"It wasn't" Lance exaggerated, as Matt made a weird face.

"Yeah, I'm out of here"

***

"So you guys only occupied this warehouse?" Matt asked looking around with his flashlight once the door was closed.

"Yep. It's the safest part out of this whole place." Hunk said.

They all walked over to the place where all the sleeping bags were placed in a circle around a flashlight that was laying on the ground and sat down.

Hunk headed to an improvised kitchen in the very corner of the deposit and grabbed a few cups of hot tea, handing them to everyone who was sitting down.

Romelle looked around herself. "It's getting kinda cold in here. I'm gonna go get some blankets."

She got up, and grabbed a flashlight from the bag that they had right beside the door, in which they kept important stuff like flashlights, weapons and such.

"Are you sure you want to go out there alone?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, do you want anyone joining you? It's getting dark." Pidge said.

Romelle smiled softly. "It's fine, I have weapons with me, and it will just take a minute."

"Just be careful" Allura said before Romelle nodded at her and walked out the door.

Everyone knew that it was a huge risk when someone would walk out the door of the warehouse, especially during the night.

"So what's been happening here for the past week?" Veronica asked. "I mean, I get that you guys lost all ways to contact us, but what happened other than that?"

There were a few seconds of silence, before someone decided to speak up.

"Well uh... the mall was kind of overrun when we got here..." Lance said. "This whole place was just filled with walkers."

Veronica's brows shot up. "Then why didn't you come back to the academy?"

"We couldn't risk another trip." Keith said. "Not only because these woods are overflowing with walkers, and we would risk dying for the tenth time in a few days, but also because we were not in the condition to run away, especially with all the supplies that we have here."

He gestured over to the small corner that they provided with a few piles of clothes for everyone to use, multiple water bottles and a part of the food that they managed to save.

"But you guys did a pretty good job in here." Matt noticed. "I mean, you're living decently considering what took you to get here."

"That would be Keith. He took his anger out on the walkers. " Hunk said bluntly.

They chuckled.

"Anyways, what's been going on at the base?"

Matt and Veronica stood quiet for a few seconds, before they looked at each other and Veronica nodded.

"Not quite well, actually.." he sighted.

Keith instantly looked up from the ground, analyzing Matt's expression.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

He knew that the only people at the base aside from Veronica and Matt were his brother, his mother and her boyfriend. And as far as it seemed, Veronica and Matt were looking fine. So that meant-

"The same day you guys left, we went on a gathering mission in another town with Shiro." Veronica said. "Needless to say, Shiro got bit."

Her words hung up in the air, and the room went dead quiet for a few seconds.

"He's fine though." Matt jumped in. "We had to amputate his arm, but he's fine."

Keith felt as if the world was spinning with him.

"I-" he was speechless. "How did that happen? Why didn't you guys manage to protect him?!" Keith choked.

"We found some survivors, and as we were trying to get them out of a building, Shiro got bit." Matt said. "It's okay, Keith. It's been a week. He's walking around like nothing happened. Krolia really took care of him this whole time."

Keith just sighted and rubbed his face with his hands. He didn't know why, but bad luck had been chasing him since the apocalypse started.

Of course, he didn't expect rainbows and glitter during the fucking zombie apocalypse, but he never expected it to hit so hard.

He always thought of himself as simply just being bad at life, so his only way of comforting himself was the thought that it couldn't get any worse.

He used to think that he didn't deserve to live. But since the apocalypse started, he realized that out of all the people on Earth, he had a reason to be alive till that point.

He's never been a religious kind of guy, but he believed that everything happened for a reason, and he was still there because he had something to do before he left Earth.

"You guys said you found survivors?" Allura asked breaking the tension that had installed in the room.

Veronica and Matt looked at each other again. They couldn't just tell Allura that they found her uncle and they kept him back at the academy just because they wanted some balance in between the teams.

They both knew that soon enough all of them would move inside the mall, not only because it had more supplies, but also because it was bigger and once they would clean it off, they would live comfortably in there.

"Yeah. We've never seen them before." Veronica said rubbing the back of her neck. She felt guilty for not telling her about her own family. "A teenage boy and his father"

Allura nodded, the little amount of hope in her eyes fading.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find them" Veronica reassured, as the white haired girl smiled slightly.

After a few seconds of silence, Matt looked around himself. "Didn't Romelle come back yet? She's been out there for a while."


	15. Chapter 15

Day 260  
In the better times

"Romelle, where are you?" Matt yelled as he looked around the main area of the mall.

He searched in every single room on the base floor but she was no where to be found.

He glanced towards the escalators that could be found in the middle of the main area.

Romelle was either outside, or upstairs. There was no in between. And he knew she wasn't stupid to go outside in the middle of the night with only a flashlight and a knife, especially because the premises weren't quite defined yet, and the area wasn't even closed with a fence that could maybe prevent walkers from getting inside the mall.

Needless to say, the only safe place inside that building was the warehouse that they currently occupied. Matt believed that they could get rid of the walkers upstairs and properly take care of the building and make sure no walkers got in in a couple days if they all worked together. But seeing the tension in between the members of the team, he knew they wouldn't be able to make it.

As far as he knew, Keith and Pidge were on bad terms because of the fact that she lost the walkie talkie. He's known Keith for a while, and if he could say anything about him, that would be the fact that someone like him and Pidge were never going to get along. They were both too stubborn to be able to work together.

Then there was Allura who was pregnant, and hadn't been feeling best, and Romelle who was trying to stay by her side even though she was overwhelmed by the thought of her brother and her cousin's uncle.

And then there was Hunk who always needed someone to guide him around, because seeing with only one eye was harder than it seemed.

And Lance... he was trying his best. Veronica told Matt about how he's just never been the same since his nephews died. Him and Keith were the only ones who could actually fight in case of anything, aside from the girls.

He was obviously struggling. Anyone could tell that. But it wasn't like they could do anything about it. Of course, the team made sure to talk to him and keep him entertained so he could slowly start going back to normal, but now with the atmosphere that's been in between them for the past week, Lance never got any reassurance anymore from anyone except from maybe Hunk.

He started climbing up the escalators, even though he knew that if Romelle was actually there, her flashlight would have been visible.

He didn't know the circumstances the walkers were kept in upstairs, but he heard the team talking about the floor being accessible, so he just guessed they were closed inside a room.

His guess turned out to be true when he finished climbing up the stairs and walked around the floor, only to accidentaly point his flashlight towards a huge glass door that was closed. Behind the door - actually an entired wall- there were dozens of walkers that were moving around like some bugs.

He froze in place, not really knowing what to do, but turned off his flashlight, because he knew they would make a lot noise if he kept it on, risking to attract other walkers.

It took a while for his eyes to adjust with the darkness, but once they did, the view ahead of him became even scarier. The pale moonlight was peeking through the ceiling that had collapsed somewhere on that floor, though it couldn't affect the ground floor in any way.

He didn't know why, but it felt just as he was stuck on the spot, staring at the walkers behind the glass door.

He had no reliability that the walkers couldn't break down the door and eat him alive, but for some reason he just wanted to stay there and analyze every single detail about the ruthless creatures that made the world go crazy.

He felt somehow safe, maybe because he was sure that the door wasn't going to break since the walkers have been sitting in there for a while, and for the first time ever, he was watching a walker who was only inches away from him, of course, if we take out the thick glass. He was just watching the scary creature trying to break free and make him a late night snack.

He glanced around the room, taking his gaze away from the walker in front of him. The floor was covered in guts, which was not surprising at all, but the thing that caught his attention were some distinct objects here and there on the floor.

Smoke bombs?

Those couldn't be the smoke bombs from his mother. Or were they?

Colleen Holt was the only person to ever create smoke bombs against walkers, but she passed away before she even got them known to the media. So her children were the only ones in the possesions of the smoke bombs.

He knew how they looked, they were basically hard not to recognise. And he also knew that they worked from his mother's tests, and from one of their attempts to get rid of a hoard a couple months back.

So if those were the smoke bombs he was thinking about inside the room, then why weren't walkers responding to them? As far as it seemed, the smoke had gone away, so it should have worked.

He was snapped out of his trance when a flashlight was pointed in his way.

"Matt, what are you doing here?" Romelle asked in her british accent, obvious concern on her face.

He looked at her, not really knowing what to do. It felt just like he got caught while doing something bad, even though staring at some walkers wasn't entiredly bad.

"I- uh, I didn't know you guys were keeping exhibits in here" he said pointing towards the room.

Romelle was serious for a few seconds before she covered her mouth with her hand to stiffle a laugh.  
"No, we were just trying to get rid of them but we thought they were going to come in handy if someone tries to break into the mall- but, what are you doing here?"

"You were taking too long and we thought something happened to you!" he defended himself.

Romelle laughed. "I'm sorry, I got distracted by a store that I've never seen before... I never really got to look for the blankets."

"What store?" Matt asked more in an attempt to make a conversation than actually being interested.

"Oh-" she seemed to be taken by surprise. "Uhh, it's a jelwery store, right around the corner" she pointed towards the long hallway behind herself.

Matt almost rised an eyebrow. "A jelwery store?"

If he knew something about the zombie apocalypse, was that jelwery was the last thing you needed to survive.

Sure enough, you could get all the expensive stuff you couldn't afford before 80% of the population was wiped off the surface of Earth, but in those kind of conditions, jelwery and expensive stuff should have been the last things to concern about.

"Yeah well, since we're already almost in November, I thought I would look for a present for Allura..." she said ankwardly.

She had the feeling that Matt was judging her.

"Is Allura's birthday coming up?" Matt asked rubbing the back of his neck.

He felt dumb for asking that, but it wasn't like he had any source of getting that information from.

"It's on 14th of December" she answered.

"That's great! " Matt said. "And have you picked anything for her?"

Romelle paused for a few seconds. "Will you arrest me for that?"

Matt's eyes widened. "What?"

He was thankful it was dark.

"I mean uh-" she tried explaining. "It's pretty much illegal, and in normal conditions you would get arrested for shoplifting.."

"No, no! Don't worry, nobody is going to arrest anyone" Matt said frantically gesturing with his hands.

For anyone who would have been watching, they both looked constipated, but it wasn't like they could do anything to help it. The more they were trying, the more ankward the conversation was getting.

She reached in her jeans back pocket and got a small object. Matt approached her and she pointed the flashlight towards it.

It was a silver necklace with a small letter A.

"It's beautiful" Matt smiled encouraging. "I'm sure she will like it."

Romelle smiled for herself. "I just knew it was the right thing for her when I saw it. I mean, I know we're in the middle of the apocalypse, but I just want her to feel special on her birthday. Especially now that she's pregnant-" she stopped herself suddently looking around. "We've been sitting here for a while. Let's go get those blankets before they send someone else after us."

Matt nodded as they started walking down the hallway, and walked around the corner into a huge, dark store.

"It's understandable. We all have our own coping mechanisms" Matt said smiling sympathetically. "We all want to go back in time. The world had to end for us to realize that we took it for granted."

Romelle led the way to the back of the store, and she stopped in front of a pile of folded blankets.

"Yeah... I would give anything to be normal again." She glanced over to the stars visible through one of the big windows inside the store. "I mean, you know, having a whole life ahead of us, waking up in the morning and not having that feeling of danger in your throat.."

"Yeah..." Matt said before he started looking around the store.

Their conversation wasn't as ankward anymore, now that they had a certain subject to talk about. Though, the 'normal world', as they called it, was a sensitive subject for a lot of people, so when he first brought it up, Matt was afraid he would bring Romelle in a state of mind he didn't mean to.

She smiled for herself bending down and reaching for a few blankets. "I wonder what Bandor is doing right now" she said.

"Your brother?" Matt asked accepting some of the blankets that Romelle had given to him.

"Yeah. He's a teenager and well... he needs a lot of help. With all the changes happening right now, with all the questions and no more 'hey Siri' to answer all of them, he must be really confused." she chuckled.

"But didn't you guys say that he was with your uncle?" Matt asked.

"He is, and I'm glad of this. Coran is a really wise man, and I'm sure Bandor is happy to be with him too."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find them" Matt said reassuringly.

Romelle's smile seemed to fade in a matter of seconds. "It is almost impossible..." she sighted.

Matt furrowed his brows. "Why is it impossible?"

Romelle dropped the blankets to the ground and sat down. "I am aware that all of you guys want to help me and Allura to find Coran and Bandor, but we will have to admit at some point that it is a really hard thing to accomplish."

Matt squatted down to her level, leaving the blankets on top of where Romelle threw hers.

"Hey, look at me please"

She looked up at him, tears sparkling in her eyes.

"If you keep thinking this way, you are never going to find them..." he sighted. "Why do you think that finding them is impossible?"

"Because the only thing we know about them is that they are with the Altea, which we are not even certain about because that was months ago!" She said exasperated. "And aside from that, the rivalry in between the groups is literally not going to let us do anything."

"But do you think that once you and Allura went missing, which was way before you met Lotor, Bandor and Coran simply just lived with that? Having all the informations about the groups rivalry and knowing that if you guys were going to come back, you were most likely not accepted back in? Do you think they would just give up on you?" Matt took her hands into his own. "Have you ever stopped searching for them once you went missing?"

Romelle, who was now sobbing, shook her head.

"So why would they?" Matt asked in the most convinced voice.

He wanted to tell her right away that Coran and Bandor were actually safe at the base. He felt so guilty knowing that she was suffering like that. It must have been hard being away from them for so long and knowing that she wasn't going to see them too soon.

He sighed and leaned in for a hug. She accepted it, and they only broke the hug when Romelle had stopped crying.

Day 261

"So for how long are you going to be killing our brain cells with your presence?" Pidge asked opening the door and walking outside the mall.

Matt put an offended hand over his chest from where he was staying leaning with his back against the wall. "Kill your brain cells? Please, I'm the one who saved all of you"

Pidge rolled her eyes, starting to walk away. "When you're done with your super hero phase, you can come help patrolling"

Matt rised an eyebrow, starting to walk after her. "Ohh, I get it now. Sleeping on the floor is finally getting to you after a week"

He just received a glare.

"I saved all of you" she mumbled more for herself. "Like, pack it up, you just found a walkie talkie and now you act like you saved the world."

"... The walkie talkie that you lost" he said. "The walkie talkie over which everyone at the base went crazy"

They arrived in front of the main entrance, as Pidge looked around, noticing a walker far away into the parking lot. They both started heading that way.

"I don't think I'm supposed to tell you this, but I think you guys pretty much already figured it out." she said before taking her gun, aiming to the walker and shooting.

The walker fell to ground, as they continued walking around the parking lot, looking for any other walkers.

Matt looked at her. "What are you talking about?"

"About how we left a track of missing objects behind us. The van, the walkie talkie, Allura's puke-"

"Ew, don't mention that!"

"Yeah, anyways..." she continued. "The van broke down around a mile away from the academy, but we all just agreed to walk the rest of the way. Then Allura started feeling bad, we were all pretty much lost and then we stopped for a little while and contacted you guys. We collectively agreed to lie that we were already at the mall, but when you guys told us about the hoard, we left in a hurry to make it here faster, and I think that's where I left the walkie talkie behind. Not to mention that we got to the mall, and it was all overrun."

Matt was quiet for a few seconds, but he didn't seem to be too surprised by the whole situation. "Veronica and I got suspicious, but we never really figured out what actually happened. Though, we're just glad that you guys are fine."

He paused for a few seconds. "Krolia's been going insane at the base. Not only that Shiro got bit in the same day we last contacted you guys, and we had to watch over him like he was a little baby for the whole night, but then next morning when we tried to contact you guys and it didn't work, we all thought it was the hoard that got to you."

Pidge stood quiet. She was sorry, but she knew that it was all fine now and there was no reason to worry about that anymore.

"How is Shiro doing?" she asked, as they started walking towards the back of the mall.

"He's fine now. The first few days were crucial for him, but he made it and he's just walking around the academy like nothing even happened." Matt smiled slightly.

His smile slowly faded as he fell quiet for a few seconds.

"Now I see that we're sharing secrets, there might be something..." Matt said. "But I don't even know why I'm sharing this with you right now because I really feel like I don't trust you enough for this."

"Tell me. I'll manipulate you with the information" Pidge said.

Matt just rolled his eyes, but continued talking. He knew the thing he wanted to tell her was really not something to manipulate someone with, especially after the discussion he had last night with Romelle.

"Remember that last night we were talking about the survivors we rescued from the city when Shiro got bit?"

Pidge rised an eyebrow. "Do you actually know them?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't really say that I'm the one who knows them..." Matt said, and his sister gave him a weird look.

He looked around, making sure no one was overhearing their conversation. "They are actually Romelle's brother and their uncle."

Pidge stopped in her tracks. "Wait... what? Why are you not telling them? They might want to know, especially because it's been so long since they've last seen each other."

"We don't want to tell them because we don't want them running away. Allura is pregnant, and knowing them, they will more than certainly want to run away and find them."

He turned pointing an advertising finger in her face. "And you will not tell them a single thing."

She crossed her arms, ignoring the advertisement. "So this is why you're spending so much time with Romelle? You shoud be careful, I see you're picking up some of her accent."

Matt rolled his eyes and turned, starting walking again. Pidge smirked, following him.

"What's your problem now? Are you hating on her accent?" he asked.

"I never said anything about her accent. I'm just speaking facts here." Pidge said.

"I bet you kissed last night while you were searching for the blankets." she continued. "But judging by how much it took you to get back, I would rather say that you full on made out."

"Oh, so we're playing this now?" Matt snapped back. "Now what about you and Keith, huh? I've heard from around the campus that you've got quite a nice relationship."

"A nice relationship?" she scoffed. "The guy's an asshole"

Matt snorted. "Well you gotta do something about that because the team doesn't think the same way you do."


	16. Chapter 16

Day 267  
The intruder

The night was already starting to set in. The dark clouds that had threatened the sky above her all day were now getting even scarier. 

The cold was almost unbearable for her. It's gotten colder over the past few weeks since she's been on her own, and she didn't have anything else than the clothes she was already wearing: a pair of ripped jeans, a dirty yellow shirt with a black windbreaker over it, and a thick, mustard scarf. 

She was hoping on finding a building. Not only that she was tired and scared to fight walkers anymore, because she's dealed with a lot of them in the past couple days, but a building would mean a fire and a floor to sleep on safely, not to mention the possibility of finding food and water. 

But she realized she was dreaming way too far. She's heard a couple gunshots earlier, and she was trying to head towards the sound. 

The situation itself was actually a 50/50 chance for her to get brutally murdered. She knew that, but at that point of her journey, nothing really mattered anymore. 

She was perfectly aware of the fact that she could come across one of the nice groups, and actually get a shelter and some food, but she also knew that she could come across a group that would make her their next dinner as well. And she was willing to risk that. 

Something was telling her that heading towards the gunshot sounds was the right decision though. She didn't know why, because she never really trusted her gut feelings, but this time was different, which was giving her hope.

Finally, she found a path that she followed, and the next thing she knew, she found herself in front of one of the biggest buildings that she'd seen since the world went to shit. 

It looked like a mall. She knew the gunshots must have been fired from there, because it was the only liveable place in the middle of the forest. 

She thought about why would a mall be placed in the middle of the woods at all, but she shook it off once she remembered that there were a couple military bases around the area, and it must have been exclusively for provisions. 

There was a massive opened space that stood before her eyes, and somewhere, not too far away, she could see the giant shadow of the building in the night. 

She decided to start approaching the building, but she knew that walking close to the forest would be a better idea, because if there was anyone watching over the place, she could have been mistaken for a walker and killed on the spot; another risk that her plan implied. 

She started heading towards the east wing, and the closer she got, the better she could see a small light coming from inside. Once she faced it, she could definietly tell by the noise inside (which wasn't actually that loud, but it was easy to hear because the forest was presumably quiet) that someone, and not only one person, was inside. 

The entrance to the place seemed to be one of the back doors, but the actual room where she could hear the talking from was in the very back of the mall, a room that probably used to be a shed. A very big one. 

She could see that there were a couple windows, all blinded up, except she could see a small light peeking though one of the uncovered corners. So her main guess was that the door she'd seen earlier was actually an entrance to a hall that probably led to the room where everyone was. 

She started walking around the back of the mall towards the parking lot, when she noticed a broken glass wall that people seemed to try to repair with some duct tape and nylon, so the walkers couldn't get in. 

She laughed more for herself at their failed attempt to keep walkers out, as if they couldn't simply just rip the nylon off and get inside the building. 

She decided to inspect the rest of the area to check for any other entrances, and if she didn't find anything else, she was going to come back and get in through there.

She got to the front again, and had no choice but to leave the side of the forest and run to the building. That was another situation in which she risked her life, but she knew that the people who occupied the place were on the other side of the mall, so there weren't many chances for her to get caught. 

Deep down she wanted to know who those people were, but she knew that that included meeting them, which, again, was a 50% chance for them to be cannibals of some sort and make her their dinner. 

She noticed the big, main entrance, but she knew that it was too risky to follow it, because it was most likely to produce a lot of noise. But other than that, there were no low windows or anything she could use to climb inside, so she turned around and started walking towards the entrance she'd seen earlier. 

She turned on her flashlight, since it was already so dark she couldn't see anymore, and also because she knew that she couldn't manage inside without a source of light. 

She ripped the duct tape off the window, and slowly pushed the nylon out of her way, to not make any sound while getting inside. She made sure to glue the duct tape back on the window as much as she could, before she turned around and started analyzing her surroundings. 

She was in a small room, with a lot of broken glass on the floor. The door was closed, and she started approaching it. She softly switched the doorknob, and to her surprise, the door opened with a small creak. 

She turned off her flashlight for a moment, peeking her head out and realizing there was light coming from somewhere in front of her. 

She could gues that it was leading to the room where she heard the people earlier from, so she made a mental note to avoid that place. 

She looked to her left, noticing the escalators in the middle of the main area. She started slowly walking towards the stairs, with her back glued against the wall. She knew that the stairs were pretty much the safest place out of the main floor as fas as she explored it, and at that point her only possibilities were the big hallway towards the main entrance on her right, the hallway in front of her that led to the room where the people stayed, or the escalators on her left that could lead her to a superior floor. 

She got to the escalators, stood quiet for a few seconds just to make sure nobody was around, and then she started climbing them up. She turned on her flashlight again to make sure she wasn't going to stumble across something and make her death rather funnier than tragical. 

She got to the superior floor, as she looked around herself for a few seconds. There was a railing that could reach maybe her waist, over which she could look at the main floor. It made more sense now that she was watching it from above. 

She shone her flashlight around the place, before she heard a door opening, and she froze in place. She heard a couple footsteps, as she frantically turned off her flashlight.

The footsteps stopped, as her eyes widened. They caught her. 

There were a couple muffled voices that she couldn't quite hear, but it seemed like there were female voices too. 

She ran to a corner and hid behind a resistance beam that was right against the railing, so she could see the people, but if someone shone their flashlight her way, they wouldn't be able to see her. 

After the voices seemed to move on the hallway, she started understanding that there were actually people arguing back and forth. 

"Maybe it was the flashlight reflection in your glasses" she heard a male voice. 

A few seconds of silence. 

"Do I look like I'm joking?" a female voice answered obviously. 

"Veronica, did you see it too?" 

Another female voice, different than the first one, spoke up. "I was walking inside the restroom, I didn't see anything." She seemed to have an accent, as well as the first guy who spoke. 

"Pidge, you're blind as fuck. How do we have the certainty that you actually saw something?" another male voice spoke. 

She already knew they were teenagers. So her chances of getting killed that night were lower now. 

"Look at me, how many fingers am I holding up?" the first voice asked, and she could recognize the sarcasm in his voice.

"Lance, I'm blind, not drunk" the girl said exasperated. "You know what? I'm just going to check on my own" 

She started hearing footsteps approaching the main area, before she heard a groan from the hall, and another set of footsteps. 

Soon enough, two flashlights were lighting up the main area. She could admit, even with the vibe that those strangers were giving off, she was still scared to death to be found. 

It took a while for her to see their features in the dim light. There was a tall, lanky boy. He seemed to have tan skin and his hair was a little bit overgrown and wavy. He was wearing what seemed like a blue shirt with jeans and a jacket, and she could see a gun in a holster attached to his thigh. 

Besides him, there was a short girl who could maybe reach his shoulder, but it was clearly that they were around the same age. She was wearing a dark green turtleneck with jeans and a black windbreaker several sizes bigger. Her hair had a light color, maybe a dirty blonde, and it ended above her shoulders.

Then several other people entered the room. There was a girl with tanned skin and medium lenght wavy hair, and a pair of thin glasses resting on her nose. She was wearing jeans with a slim shirt and a cropped jacket. She was kinda looking like the first guy. 

Behind her, there was a shorter guy with dark, medium lenght hair and pale skin. He was wearing combat pants with a hoodie, and he pretty much seemed already fed up. 

Another two girls who were walking close to one another came into the main area. They were both pretty tall and had long hair. One of them had dark skin and platinum white hair, and the other one was blonde. The one with white hair was wearing a light blue oversized shirt with jeans, and the other one was wearing a light yellow long sleeved shirt with a V neck and jeans.

Then there was a big guy who was wearing a yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and brown combat pants. He had black hair with a yellow bandana wrapped around his head over one of his eyes. 

And finally, there was a guy with dirty blonde hair. He was wearing jeans with an orange shirt, and a brown jacket. 

But the thing that she was most afraid of was the fact that all of them were heavily armed. Starting off with knives, machetes, guns, and even shotguns, each of them had something to protect theirselves with, and she wouldn't say that they were keeping them hidden.

Actually, that was a war tactic that pretty much everyone used ever since the world went mad, and not to impress the walkers or anything, because they didn't really have any sense of judgement at that point, but just for the other groups to fear you.

Because of course, against your expectations, at the end of the world, people don't tend to stay together and be opened to help others. Not all of them at least, but she guessed it was mostly because of the lack of judgement and cold hearts that, as well as walkers, most people didn't even have before the apocalypse started. 

She's been a part of one of the 'bad' groups, and even though they were her family, she never wanted to get back to them. 

She knew everyone had separate ways of thinking, and she accepted that as long as it didn't affect her, but when it did, she decided to leave and not look back. 

She didn't really care that they were her family. She'd lost enough anyways. It wasn't like they cared about what she did, even before the apocalypse. So why not to leave them behind? 

So even though she was looking at some teenagers who were maybe even younger than her, she was afraid. Because as much as they were teenagers, she knew without even getting to know them that they could make really impulsive decisions under pressure.

And obviously finding a random girl hiding behind a resistance beam during the night couldn't be a nice experience. 

So once again, her chances of getting killed were high. 

Flashlights started lighting up the place, as she started fearing that her possible shadow was going to out her. Eventually she figured out that there was no shadow of hers since there was no source of light pointed directly towards her, and it must have been just the panic settling in. 

After a couple tense seconds, the group started talking. She couldn't really figure out their conversations since there were a lot of people talking to each other, but it was obvious that they were talking about the mysterious light they saw from the hallway. 

After a bitter conversation in between the girl and the guy who showed up first, which was obviously not meant to hurt either of them, and it was 'bitter', as the thought, probably because of the fact that they were friends, the group started heading back to the hallway.

Eventually the conversations faded away, and a door closing shut gave her the signal that everyone was inside the warehouse. 

She sighted in reflief. That was a close call. 

***

The sun was setting up in the cool morning, coloring the clouds across the sky. 

"So are you guys leaving today?" Romelle asked avoiding looking at the boy who was walking besides her. 

Matt stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Krolia needs us at the base."

She stood quiet.

"But we're probably going to start packing up as soon as we get back to the academy. Krolia said that the place is not quite safe anymore."

Romelle furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

He hesitated for a few seconds. "You know, before you and Allura, and even Lance and Pidge showed up, we had a couple people who didn't like it with us, and they decided to leave. They did, but nobody knows where they went after that. Krolia is suspecting that they are with the Galra now because there were only four of them, and since they know where the academy is, the Galra can come anytime and just take someone away."

Romelle frowned. "I never thought of that" 

Matt nodded. "I didn't either, until Krolia brought it to our attention. Now that i think of it it makes sense."

"And do you know when will the moving day be?" she asked. 

Matt sighted. "Not yet, but it'll happen soon enough. Krolia planned out the entired situation. We're going to leave all kinds of stuff behind so it will seem like the place got overrun. She's still thinking about taking some walkers and dressing them up like us, and then closing them into the main room."

Romelle snorted.

"What?" Matt asked. 

"Take some walkers, dress them up like us, and close them into the main room?" she repeated. 

Matt smiled softly. "She was working with the Blades, what did you expect?" 

"I'm not complaining, it's a genius idea" Romelle said. "But if the Galra were to track us down, don't you think they would have done that already?" 

Matt shrugged. "I don't know, but we need to be careful either way. Keep in mind, the Galra are not the only bad people around."

They reached the front of the mall after they've been walking around the parking lot. Matt opened the front door, and held it open for Romelle to enter the building. 

She did, and Matt followed her, as the door behind them shut with a loud sound. They started walking around the base floor, and they finally got to the escalators. 

After a few seconds in which Romelle had been painfully quiet, she finally made up the courage to speak. 

"Matt, do you promise me that you are going to help me find my brother and my uncle?" 

Matt stopped in his tracks in front of the escalators, with a puzzled expression.

"Of course I will." he said after a few seconds. "Who told you that I won't?" 

"It's nobody, really..." she sighted. "I know I told you this before, and I'm really sorry that I turn every single conversation that we have into a conversation about Bandor and Coran, but Allura is already two months along, and I want her to have them here when she gives birth. You might say that there's still seven months until then, but time flies, Matt..."

Matt had a look of compassion in his eyes. He never minded the fact that she made every conversation that they had about herself. He was a good listener, and he understood that she needed absolutely more emotional support than he did. 

Romelle was staring at the ground, not making any eye contact with him. 

He sighted and lifted her chin up with his index finger, forcing her to look him in the eyes. 

"Romelle, I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm not giving up on you" he paused for a few seconds. "Everyone at the base is doing their best to find them. We care about you. I care about you. And I promise you that I won't let them leave the base until we find them" 

He didn't know where that came from, but he knew for a fact that he meant it. 

She looked up at him and smiled sadly. Their faces got closer and closer, until-

"What are those sounds?" Romelle asked jumping away from him. 

Matt was a little disappointed, but he still listened for a few seconds. 

He snapped his head towards the superior level, and pointed his finger that way. 

Romelle furrowed her brows. "I- uh... I think Pidge might have been right last night. There is something up there."


End file.
